Therapy
by Frozen Booze
Summary: In a generous mood, Joker decides to present his hero with a curious gift. The duo perceive their situation and following encounters as fairly usual for they have yet to realize how quick it will degenerate into something unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note  
**

This is my very first fan fiction, not to mention that English is not my native language and because of that I am fully open to criticism in regard of the story and my grammar.

Don't be disappointed if the rating is not representative of this particular chapter, the more interesting things will be arriving soon.

En bref, I sincerely hope you will enjoy my fan fiction.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

February the 7th, attached to one of the Batmobile's wheel with string floss was a joker card on which map coordinates and a date were written. It took only a matter of seconds for Batman to locate the rendez-vous point and figure out that it was in a dead end alleyway. He was suppose to meet him there in seven days, but knowing this would of course be a trap, he decided to investigate the place beforehand, although not today and not as Batman, due to the fact that Joker would surely expect that from the detective.

February the 8th, forenoon. Before heading to the Wayne Tower, Bruce disguised himself; beard, black toque, large gray shirt, old dirty coat, jeans with paint stains and boots. He looked like some random guy you easily forget about. He was carrying a backpack in which he had spying equipment, cameras, microphones, etc. It was early, the sun was rising and most people were still asleep. As he approached the alleyway he got more cautious, looking around to see if anyone was there, keeping an ear out for uncanny noise, but nothing. The area was clear. He went and placed the equipment in a way it could not be seen and he'd have ears and eyes everywhere.

"Can you hear and see me?"

He waited a few seconds, his phone vibrated. He took it and read the message.

Alfred: All the microphones and cameras are working.

Bruce walked a few streets where he joined Alfred in the car. He had brought him some clean clothes for work. He began grooming and changing himself in the car.

"Read 1984 recently, Master Wayne?" Said Alfred while not looking at him.

"Joker left me an invitation yesterday, he wants us to meet there on the 14th. I want to keep an eye out for when he'll eventually set up a trap for me."

"Sounds easy enough."

Bruce finished changing and Alfred started driving.

"Too easy if you ask me."

"I do not see anything negative with his work being sloppy for once, he's been a pain in your neck for so long."

As they got closer to the Wayne Tower, Bruce yawned and simply replied

"Let's just keep an eye out for now."

February the 13th, nothing had been caught on camera. All there had been was some hobos sleeping and drinking, Batman stopped a pitiful drug deal thanks to the surveillance equipment, some kids doing graffiti, but nothing Joker related. Alfred was delighted by this, to him it seems Joker had just been careless and clumsy in his doing this time, but to Batman this was alarming. It was like the calm before the storm. He stayed up all night, just watching, listening, waiting for anything to happen, only the be somewhat disappointed.

He slept a little at work that day, a little in his office, a little during a meeting, he just slept like a teenager in math class, waking up from time to time feeling slightly ashamed. He contacted Alfred multiple time during the day, but nothing happened in the alleyway.

February 14th, he was wearing his suit, sitting in front of the Batcomputer, more focused than ever. Alfred was next to him, he could hardly wait for something to take place, anything to make Bruce move on and stop obsessing over these screens. These had been seven tedious days, filled with stress and boredom and they were both absolutely annoyed with this situation. It was ending tonight.

It was 1:43 AM when some event arose. A car stopped next to the location and two thugs got out. They went to the trunk where they got a man dressed up as a dog out. He was still alive, tied up and seemed to have blood on his face. They threw him on the ground and started beating him up. Joker related or not, this needed to be stopped. In no time, Batman got in the Batmobile and drove there as fast as possible.

When he arrived, they were still hitting the man in a costume. The thugs did not noticed the vigilante approaching, he took them out by knocking their heads together. Cliché, but never fails. The victim was barely moving, as Batman got closer he noticed foamy saliva around the man's mouth, he must have been drugged and needed help. He called GCPD to pick up the thugs and told them to also bring an ambulance for a man on an unknown drug. He then noticed the collar on the dog costume, it had a joker card attached to it. There were new map coordinates and a message consisting of a single word: NOW

"Alfred, this fight was set up by Joker. I just got a new invitation, I have to go elsewhere."

"Should I give these new coordinates to GCPD, sir?"

"No, less people around Joker means less potential victims, I'm going alone. Keep an eye on the man here."

He got to the rendez-vous point around a minute later. It was a bunker, he opened the door cautiously and walked in slowly. There was a passage in the form of an L, some light was coming from the room he had yet to see. Then he heard his voice

"You'll want to close and lock that door, trust me."

This was the right place, he could recognize that creepy unique voice anywhere. He did not move, he wondered if he should close that door. Batman always hated how Joker could make him doubt even the simplest thing; close the door or leave it open.

"Leave it open if it's too complicated for you..." He chuckled. "It's your privacy anyway."

What was he implying by that? He preferred not to imagine anything when it came to him, he was too unpredictable anyway to make any kind of assumption concerning anything. He chose to close and lock the door. Batman walked through the passage and his jaw almost dropped at the sight of the room.

There were little lamps powered by batteries against the walls lighting up the place, but not excessively. At the end of the room was a small table on which there was an unopened present and in the middle of the room, Joker, la pièce de résistance. He had his hand attached over his head with a chain holding on a solid pipe in the ceiling, so high he could barely touch the floor with his feet. He was wearing nothing but some red boxer. On his body he had things written in a blood red color; on his chest: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY and just above his boxer: PUNISH ME.

"Surprise!" He laughed.

"Joker... What is...?"

"Did you think I would forget about you on Valentine's day?"

"What is that suppose to be?"

"Your gift! I chose not to be selfish this year. There's a little something for you on the table behind me."

Batman could not grasp what was happening. He decided to take it slow, get his thoughts clear in his mind. First he needed to find out what was this about, second he needed to bring him back to Arkham, that's it. Simple enough, all he had to do was staying focus on the objective, not let Joker get under his skin.

"C'mon Batsy, stop staring or you'll make me blush."

He was staring, without realizing it.

"I'm bringing you back to Arkham."

"You don't say? But first you'll have to beat me up, really give it to me. No quick knock out."

"I don't want to hurt you, Joker."

He burst into a loud laughter, in the small and almost empty bunker it was deafening. Batman wished he had not said that, because all he wanted to do was beat him into silence, but he had to stand his ground. He focused again; the marks on his body, was it blood? He approached the still laughing clown and rubbed the HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY message, it smudged, but not in the way sanguine fluid would.

"Makeup?"

"Maybe it's Maybelline!" He giggled at his own joke.

That was one thing less to worry about, the dark knight felt like he was almost done with this. The plan was the keep ignoring Joker, take a look at the present in case it's something dangerous and bring him back to Arkham. Perhaps Alfred was right and the clown really botched this one, but he'd rather not jump to conclusion.

As he went to open the gift, Joker tried to keep facing him, but in the way he was positioned all he managed to do was rotate awkwardly with the grace of a piñata.

"You're going to love it." Joker said in regard of the present, emphasizing on the word love.

It was a red solid ball gag. Batman decided not to think about it, not to think about anything and he simply turned around and rushed his next words out.

"We're leaving."

They were facing each other, staring at one another, immobile. Joker smirked and answered softly.

"If that is what you wish."

That could not be that uncomplicated, the detective just knew he was missing something. Furthermore, the clown had surely not been clumsy in his work, this situation was nothing but the tree that hide the forest.

"You never give up that easy. Tell me what's going on." He got close.

"Why don't you beat a confession out of me?"

He stepped back, he could not give in to the effortless solution of brutality and intimidation. Anyhow, it's not like it ever worked with him.

"What happen if I simply take you and leave?"

"You could do that and see for yourself..." He smiled devilishly "Or you could beat a confession out of me."

Batman knew his nemesis and he had an idea. He sat across him in the room and said nothing, kept his eyes on him. Joker seemed to realize what he was doing, playing with his patience, his very short patience. The vigilante was not surprise when he started talking around two minutes later.

"There's a guy expecting to see me, where, when, who knows? I've never met him. The thing is, he knows this guy who knows this other guy, or is it a lady? Well, this person have the detonator to a hidden bomb that could blow up an entire building..."

As he was speaking, the dark knight got up slowly puzzled by this nonsense, but still concentrated.

"... and his mom's goat acts like a homing pigeon and it's all kind of related because that guy is expecting to see me because of this guy he knows who got the job from the guy-lady-person with the detonator who knew the man who made the explosives because he was the step-brother of..."

"Enough."

He knew this could have go on for countless minutes that would have seemed like hours. He couldn't stand hearing his constant talking, his nonsense. Couldn't he just put what he had to say in short? That is if he even had something to say, all he was doing is making long sentences of unbearable absurdity. He glanced at the red solid ball gag resting on the floor, hastily brushed the thought from his head.

"Long story short, there's a person expecting me to tell him how bad I got spanked in the name of justice or some other people will help me blow up a building."

On second thought, maybe Batman could have dealt with a little more nonsense.

"Why would you want me to hurt you? This is not justice, this is mindless violence."

"I am threatening the lives of many and you are going to save them by beating me up, hard. That's just what we do."

The detective stepped closer, Joker licked his lips.

"I really put a lot of thought into this gift, Batsy. You're a very dangerous and violent being with so many restrictions..."

"Joker, I do not enjoy beating..."

"You are tense!" He was growing impatient, not smiling anymore, staring at Batman, a vicious hunger in his eyes. "You need to let go, with me you can be free, for I am absolutely deserving of anything you could ever imagine!"

He could not know if this bomb story was real or not, but he he was not about to risk lives only to find out. The dark knight knew what he had to do, protecting people from this clown was what he always did. It was the right thing to do, beside the clown can take a lot.

He punched him in the stomach, saliva showered out of his mouth. He took a deep breath.

"Don't stop now..."

He grabbed his hair and pulled his head forward.

"Trying something new? I'm into..."

He uppercut his jaw, twice. Blood was pouring out of his mouth all over his torso. He jabbed him on the sternum, some of the sanguinary liquid splattered as he swung back, his feet no longer on the ground, his breath cut short. Batman grabbed him by his thigh and pulled him close, stabilized him.

"Joker, can you breathe?"

"I... I..."

"It doesn't have to be this way!"

He started laughing, even louder than before. The vigilante positioned himself behind him, still holding his thigh in one hand and punched his lower back. Joker let out an high pitched scream and kept laughing, he wounded his skin, it opened and it was bleeding.

"It's sorta therapeutic, don't you think? Letting all of the brutality out. I don't mind you calling me doctor..."

Batman turned him around to face him. He felt like an assaulter looking at these fresh bruises, watching the fresh blood still in motion over his body. His bare skin had some strange effect on him, he was use to fighting the clown prince of crime in his flamboyant purple suit that made him look like some king of decadence. Now he was simply abusing a defenseless disordered man.

"Do you ever wonder what I sound like when I'm begging for mercy? I know I do."

He shivered and chuckled lightly as the caped crusader placed a firm hand on the side of his neck.

"As much as I enjoy long eye contact with you, I'd like the strangulation to come later."

He stared deep into these green eyes infected with madness and torment, he really took a good look at his face. An incurable person who could not do better than inflict misery upon himself and others.

"Oooh... Baby, did you fall asleep with your eyes open or..."

He felt completely horrible for not having any guilt. He headbutted him, breaking his nose in a loud cracking noise. He now had some of his blood on his mask and face. He kept punching him, even kicking him, shredding his skin open, blood was getting a little everywhere, but since they were both getting a little hot and sweaty it felt cool and refreshing. Joker looked dizzy, he kept his head swung back, facing the ceiling a smile on his lips, his eyes sometime rolling back and closing. He was not laughing as much as in the beginning, it just kept getting more and more difficult to breathe in between the shocks his body had to sustain.

Batman stepped back a moment, he inspected his nemesis' body, covered in red, injured and weak. Then he watched him as he moved his head forward, spat some more liquid on the floor and giggled.

"I bet Catwoman never lets you do that."

The red solid gag ball had the end up in his mouth sooner or later, he groaned in response of this action. His pupils dilated as the dark knight ran both his hands slowly all over his body, analysing what bone he had broken. He pressed firmly against these; two ribs and the tibia seemed messed up. He washed off the blood on his gloves by rubbing them in green hair which he then clutched, pulling the head backward. The clown's eyes were closed, he was breathing unsteadily and quivering weakly. Batman reached up with one hand, untying him, doing it so he lands on his tibia and the sides where the ribs were broken fractured. On the floor he rolled slowly on his belly, trying to get up, but all he was managing to do was crawling toward the vigilante in the most pathetic way imaginable.

"We're done here."

Joker rose his head and moved it side to side in denial. Batman took one of the lamp from the floor and threw it as hard as possible on his nemesis, shattering it against his back. He let out a loud muffled noise that sounded like a scream, well that is what the caped crusader preferred to believe.

"We're done!"

He did not move this time, his leg got grabbed and he was dragged through the bunker and out of it. The night was cold and right out of this room that had been heated up with ferocity and intensity, it felt freezing. They stopped next to the Batmobile, where Batman let go of him to look for a pair of handcuff. Joker tried to get up and head back to the bunker, but he failed miserably landing on concrete about two meters from the vehicle, giggling as much as he could with the red ball still in his mouth. His hand were bounded in his back, and he got forced into the passenger seat. The vigilante sat next to him and drove a for few minutes. The clown was freezing which made him shake constantly, yet he had this demanding look in his eyes, fixed on the driver.

They stopped at a lake where they got out and Batman took off the gag ball and threw it in the water.

"My, my... I'm really getting it tonight, gift giving, some playtime and now you're taking me to the lake. You know, the night is still young, we could..."

"Wash, in the lake."

"Bats, I'm freezing here." Glancing at his almost naked body and back to the detective. "How about..."

The dark knight pushed him into the water, he got his head out a few seconds later, standing on one foot and laughing in a higher pitch than usual.

"Cold! So cold!"

"You are deserving of anything I can imagine." He replied pulling him out and rubbing the PUNISH ME and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY messages off his body.

Back in the Batmobile, Batman was driving as fast as possible to get Joker to Arkham, he was so done. It felt weird for him to not feel any guilt, not any shame, he felt light. He hated to admit it to himself but it was therapeutic to just beat this trash clown and know he'll get praised by the whole city for it. He wanted him to get locked up, get away from him so that he could forget once again that he seriously had a problem. As long as he was in control, everything would be fine. For now, he was surprised that the clown did not ask for more with the kind of leverage he had in the situation.

"I can't wait for next time, and the time after, and after... I know that you and I will do this forever, yet I can't grow bored of it!" He sounded so enthusiast.

"What will you do the day I won't show up? The day someone will get the better of me, the day I'll die."

He stopped smiling, he seemed deeply disturbed, so upset he did not immediately realized the car had stopped and they had arrived to destination. Four guards approached and took him out of the Batmobile, he grinned.

"See Daddy, he got me home on time, just like you asked." He declared with a girly voice.

The youngest guard repressed a chuckled.

Bruce was back at the manor a little later, but he stayed up, sitting on a couch, doing nothing, relaxing. He strangely felt light, but there was still the matter of the explosives in a building. He knew by the time Joker would escape, he could investigate enough to find out which building was targeted and neutralize the bomb. Alfred walked in.

"I did not knew you were still up, Master Wayne."

"I was thinking about tonight's victim. Do you know anything about him, beside his survival?"

"Well, the doctors do not believe he had been drugged with common illegal narcotics. They think it could be a mix of home cleaning products, since the victim talked about being force to drink up a glass of mysterious blue liquid."

"Why was he dressed up as a dog?"

"The victim in question was once incarcerated at Blackgate for drug possession, it was at a time when Joker was here too. Apparently, he use to call him, and do excuse my language, bitch all the time and somewhat always got away with it."

"It was payback, he shouldn't have survived." He frowned.

"Aren't you glad he did, sir?"

"I am." He got up. "Joker talked to me about a group of people who helped him set up explosives in a building so that he could destroy it if he wants, maybe this victim is one of them. How many times does Joker fail to murder someone with the help of chemicals? I have to interrogate this man."

"Why would the Joker not want to destroy the building now?"

Bruce looked away, trying to brush off of his mind the thoughts of Joker's questionable gift and come up with something plausible and easier to explain.

"Who knows? I don't think we'll ever be able to figure this man out."

"I agree. I shall go to sleep now and may I suggest you do the same?"

"Yes, good night Alfred."

They both started walking in opposite direction to get to their room, but Bruce stopped.

"Alfred, why where you up so late?"

The butler turned his head and made a serious eye contact with his Master.

"Netflix."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note**

Writing Alfred has proven to be somewhat problematic, I don't understand why but I'm having a blast with this character and it's difficult for me to be serious with him.  
Bonne lecture.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

February the 15th, 23:54 PM, the victim's name is Carl Herbort, a 32 years old Haitian man, he stopped everything linked to drug after he got out of jail and has been working as a busboy in a restaurant ever since. He was one of these rare criminal who repented and changed.  
He was going to leave the hospital on the next day, he fully recovered from the poisonous drink he had been forced into consuming. Batman joined Carl in his room, the man did not seem surprised to see him.  
"How did you manage to survive?"  
"I'm guessing it wasn't my time to go."  
"Tell me about the time you've spent at Blackgate with Joker."  
The man looked away, his facial expression grew gloomy.  
"We never talked and I've always been uncomfortable just looking at him. He's nightmarish, he's like a glamorous diva trapped in a slender ghoul's body, everything about him is wrong. I couldn't stand it."  
"If you were so afraid, why were you provoking him?"  
"Provoking?"  
The detective got closer, bending his body slightly over Carl, in a way he could be a little more intimidating.  
"I know why he dressed you up as a dog, or should I say a bitch."  
The victim sigh while rubbing his palms anxiously and ashamed.  
"Okay, I use to call him names, he never replied, never fought back, he always ignored me. It was dark times, Batman. I didn't have the rage to keep living, but I didn't have the courage to end it either, so I relied on his actions to save me."  
"Save you?"  
"If he'd killed me, I would've escaped my miserable life, but he didn't... Well not then and my time in jail went a lot easier, the inmates thought I was brave for taunting the Joker all the time."  
The vigilante understood his nemesis plan, a thing that no one's willing to fight for is a worthless thing. His life was nothing of worth then, but now...  
"I can't believe he's back, after all these years..."  
Carl was sorrowful, he did not survived the attack because he was an accomplice, he survived it to become one. Now, he would do anything asked by Joker only to save his skin. The hero stepped back in realization that the man was not one of the enemy.  
"Carl, Joker is not yet aware of your survival. You can move, you can change your name, you can escape."  
Batman never liked lying, he knew well that the clown would find him again somehow and make him do horrible things before murdering him without mercy, still he needed to give this man some hope. If anything, it could slow the process.  
"I will..." He nodded like the defeated person he now was.

February the 16th, 1:23 AM, he is in an interrogation room with the two thugs, Yessar and Andre. Both of them have always been involved in crime, but never been in charge of anything, they were simple hired arms and nothing more. Even though they weren't very bright they could still be playing a role in the whole bomb situation.  
The questioning went almost as planned, the detective beat them both into a pulp, breaking one's humerus only to find out that none of them were connected to the case. He left them into police custody and went back to the Batcave.

"Any leads, sir?"

"No, but I have an idea." He replied gathering all of the surveillance equipment he had.  
Alfred looked at it concerned, he had been consumed by the seven days of spying he just had done with Bruce and was not looking forward to more pointless screen-staring.  
"I will investigate the buildings and for each done with nothing found I will wire up key points to where a bomb should be set in order to achieve maximum damage."  
"Do you really possess enough cameras to do this?" He said, considering the small pile of gadgets his friend had huddled.  
"Not yet. I'll get more as I advance, beside, I can't examine all the places of Gotham in one night." He put everything in the Batmobile. "This will do just fine for now."

As he got out of the Batcave, he opened up a map in order to pinpoint strategically which place to start and end with. His mind wondered off a bit, reflecting on Carl and the two thugs. Making one's death slower always made him feel guilty, yet torturing gangsters for answers he might not even get made his mood lighter. Come to think of it, Joker's murders were forming the majority of the crimes weighting on his conscience. Every time he'd kill someone the detective was disappointed, still he knew his nemesis felt the same kind of disappointment toward him every time he would let a criminal live. They were constantly expecting so much from one another, expecting one not to end the person's life and expecting the other to complete the violence he had started with an individual. He reconsidered the gift as it kept haunting his thoughts. He reflected on this twisted complicity they share when unleashing their savageness onto one another. Suddenly, Batman cut his line of thought short before fully losing his focus and got back on his operation.

February the 23th, 23:47 PM, it took the caped crusader three days to inspect and set up his equipment through the entire city. Alfred and him has been spying Gotham for four days and their work had been utterly useless.  
"Isn't there anybody you could interrogate?"  
"I don't think so..."  
"What about Quinn, sir?"  
Bruce thought about her, in fact before Joker's gift, she was in his mind constantly.  
January 17th had been a shocking day for the people of Gotham, including himself as Harleen Quinzel was declared sane and released from Arkham. The doctors claimed she just completely changed in a matter of 24 hours during mid December. They kept her under observation continually, tested her, provoked her, but she really seemed fully rehabilitated. The psychiatrists spoke out about their theories on how this could have happened, but still they remain unaware of how this was truly possible. Batman was not buying it at first, he spoke with her the day after her released, she seemed sane. He kept an eye out for her, but she really was sane. Even as Joker escaped on February 2th, nothing took place. He just ruled her out of his suspect list.  
"It's worth a try."

February 24th, 0:26 AM, Harleen have been living in a tiny and pitiful apartment, she had no job and did not seem to go out much. He came in by the kitchen window. He would have knocked at the door but he knew she would not have answered. In the living room, she was sitting on the floor, her face almost against the TV screen, playing Call of Duty with the volume extremely loud. A black hoodie, underwear and socks, that is all she was wearing. She had a microphone on, it was an old cheap thing, it was almost impressive that she could connect that lame object to a modern console and make it work.  
"Checkm8! One versus one, head shot only! I swear I can take ya!"  
The player named "Checkm8" replied with a voice that oddly sounded like Alfred's.  
"I do not know on what you are swearing, but get ready to disappoint it."  
"OOH! It's on!" Batman stepped in, ignoring what he just heard.  
"Quinn."  
She screamed and jumped up, sending her controller and microphone to the ground.  
"What's wrong with you!? Breaking into my home and fucking scaring me!" She bent down and spoke in the mic "I gotta go." Shutting down her console, she looked up at the vigilante with a smirk. "You're gonna send me back there for panic attacks if you keep getting in by the window."  
It was easy for her to take things lightly, she already seemed peaceful and merry. The detective was adjusting on which traits were part of her personality and which were part of the madness and now gone. He no longer believed her sanity was some sort of fraud, but was sometimes uncomfortable with her. It felt like watching a scary movie and holding your breathe for that jump scare that never happen. It was difficult to accept that she no longer was a foe.  
"You never open the door."  
"'Course not! Have you met my ex-boyfriend? He's kind of violent, ya know?"  
"Wouldn't you recognize my voice?"  
"Nope." She went to the kitchen, with him following, opened the fridge and got a beer out. "Want one?"  
"What if you get a piece of paper, draw or write whatever you want and give it to me? Then every time I knock I could slide it under your door and you would know it's me."  
"Oh please! You're the last person I'd trust around him, he'll find out! You would tell him."

Batman was getting a little impatient, he had been there for a few minutes and haven't even got the chance to start questioning her, because getting in her home properly was already a mystery on its own.  
"How do people reach you, Harleen?" She stopped smiling and looked at him with a severe expression.  
"Only my true friends knows how." She put her beer on the counter and started approaching him. "But since I have to follow to rules now, I'll tell ya..." Her hands rested on his chest while she got on tip of her toe in order to get closer to his face. She then whispered. "They knock at the kitchen window and I let'em in."  
The detective sighed while the girl giggled and got back to her drink.  
"I'm here to ask you some questions. It's about Joker..."  
"I haven't seen him since Arkham, what am I suppose to know?"  
"Anything about a bomb? Destroying a building?"  
"What? Ain't that what he usually do?"  
"Any contacts?"  
"The ones I know are all locked up right now." She was quick in her responses, way too quick.  
"You're hiding something from me." She rolled her eyes.  
"Why don't ya beat a confession out of me?"  
A shiver ran down his spine at the sound of these words. He was picturing the clown in his head, his gift, it was bothering him now. This awoke a hunger in him, he felt the need to fight, to conquer this situation again. He feared losing control over himself. As he got closer she stepped back, only to end up against the counter. She was not looking afraid, rather blasé. Harleen put her hand on him pushing him delicately.  
"Don't. Really don't... I was kidding." He stayed near her, doing nothing, she did not remove her hand from him.  
"You listened to him carefully, right?" She looked away. "Tell me what he said, I can figure it out..."  
"I doubt it."  
"Then leave! I don't know shit!" She pointed to the kitchen window. He gave her some space.  
"He's threatening to blow up a building unless I do whatever he says."  
She slowly smiled and started chuckling while walking toward her living room, he waited. She came back holding a teddy bear, now laughing and threw it to Batman who did nothing.  
"Show me where he touched you!"  
"It's not like that."  
"What is he asking?"  
"That's not important! I can't find the bomb, that's what this is about." She stopped laughing.  
"Did he specify it was a building in Gotham?"  
His heart almost stopped, he felt so dumb. Exhaustion mixed with shame filled him as he realized how much more work he had to do and how stupid he had been to let this detail slip. He did not answered her, he was going to wait for her to turn around and leave promptly. Harleen went to pick her plushie up and headed back to the living room.  
"Maybe he'll finally destroy Arkham."  
He had not investigate Arkham either. He vanished from her apartment saying nothing.

1:56 PM, most people in Arkham should be asleep, which would make the inspection of the asylum easier. He never enjoyed drawing attention to himself, especially in that place. He did not need to bring any equipment since the last renovations and upgrades had been paid by his own company. They changed almost the entirety of the plumbing, the ventilation, made the cells sound proof which helped in making the place more tranquil and they also improved the whole surveillance system with their technology. It was a fortress, yet Joker kept escaping without difficulty.  
The caped crusader decided to stop by the security room in order to advise the guards and workers of his presence. While in there, he took a look at the image on one screen; two cells, facing one another, in the maximum security area still had their light open.  
"Who's cell are those? Why are the lights open?"  
A guard and a psychiatrist were in the room with him. The guard answered.  
"It's Joker's and Edward Nygma's. The inmates can now control the light, but if they start flashing it we can cancel their control from here." The psychiatrist continued.  
"We believe it helps them to feel a little more free while accepting some authority."  
Batman approached the keyboard and opened the cameras from within their cells. They were at their door, looking at each other. Joker was standing on one leg, his tibia had a cast. The guard chuckled.  
"Are they having a staring contest or something?"  
Suddenly Joker started moving his arms and hands around. While the workers seemed perplexed the detective recognized what he was doing; American sign language. He had learned it before so he focused to understand what he was saying.  
Joker: Pawn B2 to B4.  
Nygma responded.  
Nygma: Knight G8 to F6.  
Joker: Bishop C1 to A3.  
Nygma: You are already losing.  
Joker: No. Play fast.  
"What the fuck?" Added the guard.  
"They're playing chess in sign language, naming the piece followed by the position it will take." The psychiatrist's jaw dropped.  
"That's... impressive." Batman would have agreed, but this could be problematic.  
"You need to get someone who knows ASL to keep an eye on them or change their cells so they cannot communicate."  
"I'd rather find someone than move them."  
The detective left the room to go analyse the architecture, seeking the place that would initiate maximum destruction. He discovered two key locations, both in cells; the first one was Harleen's last cell, the second one was Joker's current cell. He decided to start with the empty cell since examining the clown's cell could take a some time.  
No one had occupied the room since January 17th, but it was kept clean by the maintenance crew. He looked, everywhere, trying to find holes or weak spots on the walls, floor, ceiling, moving the furniture, but nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, as he turned around to leave he noticed a graffiti, a small one on the door. It was written with a permanent black marker: KNOCK ON THE KITCHEN WINDOW. He contacted the guard.  
"Who made the graffiti in Quinzel's last cell? Was it her?"  
"We don't know who but it wasn't her, we had eyes on that girl non-stop for a month."  
"When was it first seen?"  
"February 15th. Why is this so important? It's meaningless..."  
"It is." He did not want to attach more people to this messed up case and knowing the earliest recordings on the cameras were from seven days ago, looking back a the footage would be useless.

The hero was standing in the the corridor, near the end was light, their cell's light. He was not looking forward alone time with Joker knowing he had not found anything and his enemy still had almost complete power over him. He decided to blur to the camera in his cell in case he would have to do something horrible under the clown's command.  
As he got in between their cells, Joker's smiled widened. Nygma communicated something to him.  
Nygma: Wild idiot appeared.  
Edward closed his light and left his door's window. Batman walked toward the door leading to the last key location. Behind it, he was pressing himself against the door continually speaking although not a single sound could get through these new walls. The vigilante prepared himself for catching him. Opening the cell, his nemesis let himself fall outside of it screaming.  
"SOUNDPROOOOF!"  
He caught and pushed him back almost instantly letting him fall on the ground. He shut everything behind him.  
"Since when do you speak American sign language?" The detective bent down to help him up.  
"I don't remember." He went limp. "Take me like a princess!" They stared at one another, one cheerful and smiling, the other disenchanted. "C'mon Basty, I know I'm not much to look at when I'm in here, but you can use your imagination."  
In Arkham, he was not allowed to use make up nor nail polish since most of these products were toxic when eaten and he would be the kind of person to hide this in one's meal. The person would not die of it, but they could get very sick and it simply was a scenario the workers preferred to avoid. He still had intense facial traits without it, but was simply less vivid. He had somewhat pulpy and light red lips, bleached white skin, strong law lines, blond eyelashes, light green eyes, etc. Make up was not a requirement for him to have a very unique face.  
"I think you're fine like this."  
"Ahh... you're just saying things." He giggled as the hero walked passed him to investigate a first wall, feeling slightly awkward as what he said was not meant to be taken that way. "So, you're not gonna help me? Bats?"  
The first wall seemed fine, not a crack, no weak spots, not even a stain was on it.  
"Looking for something? Maybe I have it on myself..." He was now examining his bed, but he already had in mind to inspect him. "Just so you know, I'm not okay with dry. Not at all."  
Batman stopped abruptly, deeply uncomfortable. Was he vaguely asking for sex? He did not want to just fuck him here and now. He rethought of when Harleen was making innuendos about him and Joker during the questioning, maybe she was right. The clown rolled on the floor trying to face his hero.  
"I mean, some people in Arkham really aren't smooth. I know and I'm okay with them shoving a finger or two up my ass during a casual body inspection, but can't they be gentlemen enough to lube themselves just a little!? Just enough so I don't feel rape!" He cackled while the dark knight actually felt sorry for him.  
"I was not going to do that anyway."  
"That's a shame."  
He was done with the bed and moved to another wall. He was glad he had misunderstood what Joker was talking about, yet he felt that maybe Quinzel was right and this was to some extent a sexual thing. In fact the last fight was very sexualised by a lot of elements, like the messages on his body, him being almost naked, still it was unexpected but not really out of the ordinary. Come to think of it, the smaller man is a masochist, so what really surprised Batman was that he took the beating, enjoyed it but did not get an erection. It was not his intention to arouse him, but he would have expected this reaction from him and was wondering why this intense assault did not make him...  
"It was hard, you know..." Still in his thoughts, he turned to look at Joker completely shocked and answered.  
"What?! It was?" The clown seemed puzzled.  
"... it was hard to just let you bring me back here." The detective went back to his task feeling foolish while the other man climbed up from the floor to his bed. "You okay, baby? Maybe you should be the one locked up here." He mocked him.  
Only one wall left, but there seems to be nothing to be found anywhere.  
"Did you found my bomb?"  
"I did, I'm here for another case." Joker burst into a loud laughter.  
"No you didn't! Don't lie to me!" The caped crusader was done with investigating the cell, he had found nothing. He turned around to face his nemesis sitting in his bed and chuckling. "You can't lie to me."  
"What do you want?"  
"By now, you must have searched through the whole city."  
The hero approached him and placed his hands on his shoulders, he wanted to take a look at his cast and under his shirt where the ribs had been broken. The clown had a vicious smile and Batman thought that it was weird he was not asking for anything.  
"I'm going to take a look at your bandages and cast." He lift up Joker's shirt just a little.  
"Can you feel me through your gloves?" He ran his nails from the neck to the chest, scratching the bat symbol. "Can you feel me through your suit?"  
"Not really, so don't bother." He was done with the bandages, the rapidity of this man's healing capacity was astonishing; he would be fine in a matter of days.  
"You're probably gonna head out to search other cities. Trust me, don't."  
The detective thought that the fact Joker knew that he was done with inspecting Gotham was from an easy assumption; but how could he figure out if he leaves the city? Has he hired someone to spy on him? He now had a dilemma, if he did not leave Gotham, maybe he would never find the bomb, but if he leaves to find it, perhaps it would trigger the explosion.  
His cast was normal.  
"It's funny how I'm going to escape and you'll have to sit back and do nothing."  
"You're escaping now?" The clown lied down on his bed.  
"Naaah... I'm tired. Beside, you interrupted me and Eddie's game! We'll finish it tomorrow."  
Nygma could probably remember the positioning of each piece of the game until the next day, but he did not think Joker could. He was lying and there's nothing he could do about it. His foe was planning something big and he was at his mercy.  
"Close the light before leaving." Batman was stunned that his presence was bothering the pale man. This was uncanny, yet he did what he was told and while stepping out of the dark cell he heard him murmured in a bitter voice. "You smell like her."

Back in the Batcave he explained the dilemma to Alfred, none of them were sure of what to do. He also mentioned the graffiti about the kitchen window.  
"I'm not sure if I should warn her."  
"Why is that, sir?"  
"I don't know if she's a victim who had been stalked or if she's an ally to someone in there, someone who will escape, like Joker. I know she's sane, but I don't trust her."  
"I'm guessing you would like me to keep an eye on this cell's camera so we will know who sees the graffiti."  
"Yes, but I also wonder who did it." Everything was getting more and more obscure, with details surfacing but never quite making sense and everyone acting strange in a hazy way. "I don't know what to do about the bomb..."  
"I do not think there is anything else you can do. I suggest you wait for a new event to take place. I'm sorry sir, but you are completely out of leads."  
"I'll see about that."  
He glanced at the screens full of surveillance footage feeling drained. His butler started walking away, they both seemed ready to call it a night, but before Bruce just had to ask the question.  
"Alfred, have you been playing video games?" He stopped moving, but did not turn around. "Harleen was playing a game and one of the player had a voice really similar to yours."  
"That girl was Miss Quinzel?" He slightly turned his head. "Surprising. I would have expected an ex-criminal to aim a lot better." He then left the room casually.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note**

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ʖ ͡°)

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° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Did somebody say rated M

By the way, this chapter was suppose to come out way earlier, but I faced many unexpected obstacles in my life and had no time to write it and when I finally did the first file got corrupted and there was no way to restore it. So this is a second version and I'm sorry if the whole chapter feels a little like I just rushed to get it online.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

March 15th, 14:24 PM, Bruce is reading the news on his computer in his office; Jervis Tetch had just been released from Arkham Asylum after an entire month of perfect behavior. This was not a surprising event to him for he has been spying on him by reason of Tetch being moved to Quinn's last cell. Just like Harleen, the psychiatrists qualified the man's rehabilitation as sudden and inexplicable, which make some workers to go as far as to call these recoveries miracles. However, the detective could not be more puzzled by this case. The mysterious graffiti, Tetch moving to this particular cell, he definitely was not ready to believe in simple coincidences and miracles only to easily give up on his suspicions. Although he had been anxious in regard of the bomb situation with Joker, he had followed his butler's advice and been waiting for another meeting with his nemesis, which somewhat gave him some free time until then. Tonight he would go to Harleen's place in order to figure out what was really going on with the inmates sudden improvements.

Night time, on the same day, the vigilante is at the kitchen window, he knocked and noticed that an opaque shower curtain was now serving as a door hiding the living room. From behind it, she showed up, smiling as usual, but what was unusual was him, Jervis was sticking his head out from the room giving the hero a confused look. She opened the window, stepping back to give Batman enough space to enter.

"We have a door, don't we?" He asked Quinzel puzzled.  
"Get used to it, I asked him to do that. What is it this time? You're here for him, I guess?"

That was answering one of his question already, she must have been his ally in some way.  
"What's going on between you two?"

Tetch glanced at Harleen who answered for them.  
"When I heard he was getting out of Arkham I just figured we could help each other out. It's hard out here, ya know?"

The small man fully stepped out of the room, looking slightly more comfortable with the dark knight's presence.  
"We don't know each other that much, but I had nowhere to go. Nobody wanted me in an apartment, especially the ones where families were living there too, so I accepted her offer."

"Why don't you both go back to your families?" Harleen burst into a laughter.  
"You wanna get'em killed!? Being near them would turn them into targets. People really hate us, and I get why. I mean, if I'd had a penny for every person I'd killed, I'd have like... I'd have like..." She started mouthing numbers while using her fingers to count.

Batman could understand the motivation behind this bizarre cooperation in their new life, still it was no explanation to their rapid behavioral changes and how the graffiti got into the right cell. He walked past her and Jervis, entering the living room. On the couch was resting some pillows and blankets, and some baggage were on the floor next to two controllers, they have been playing Soulcalibur before his arrival.

"This is my room."  
"I know." The vigilante was seeing nothing noteworthy, he turned to the small man. "How did you get here?"

"I'd have around...! Hold on..." The woman screamed from the kitchen.  
"Like we just explained, she came to me and I followed her. That's it."  
"What about the kitchen window?"  
"The kitchen window? What do you mean?"

He sat down on his bed while Harleen walked into the room ignoring them. She grabbed her phone and opened the calculator application. Batman drew his attention to her.  
"Hold on... Hold on..."

"There was a graffiti in his last cell, it was saying knock on the kitchen window. Now here he is and..."  
"Don't make me lose my focus! I'd have like..."

He was irritable and impatient, he was not about to let them play dumb. He had a feeling that something was up and was ready to get brutally persuasive in order to get his answers.

"Are you really here for a meaningless graffiti?" Jervis mocked.  
"I'm here because this graffiti was anything but meaningless. It had something to do with Harleen..." He approached the sitting man menacingly. "... and now it have something to do with you too."

"I... I really don't know what to tell you. I can't even figure out what is it you're trying to ask."  
"I'd have... Oh my god..."

"You both know why I'm here. How convenient it is that a message concerning a way to get into the only recovered person appears in a cell which is then used by the next suddenly recovering patient. I wont believe in coincidence. How did it get there?"

"But... No one comes in here using the window besides you!" Tetch replied agitated.

"I'd have a fuckload of pennies!" Harleen screamed out seemingly proud of herself.

Quickly, the hero grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air. Jervis jumped up and tried pulling the taller man's arm begging him to stop, but he got pushed back with force on the floor.

"I had it with you playing dumb! What's really going on with you two?!"

She kicked him in the stomach and he dropped her instantly under the impact.

"The fuck's wrong with you!?" She yelled at him furious.

He replied nothing, he was completely shocked. The girl was barefoot, lifted up in the air while strangled, yet she had successfully hit him with a startling force. She had never been this strong and that set off an alarm in the detective's mind.

Tetch stood up troubled and went to stand beside her as she continued her rant.

"Okay so now there's a graffiti in my last cell that kinda sound like something I said. That doesn't mean Jervis had something to do with it. That doesn't mean I had something to do with it. That doesn't mean shit!"

She was staring at him with such intensity he felt somewhat ashamed of himself as if he was wrong.  
"What now? Are you going to torture us until we make up some answers?" The small man asked.

"You're nothing but a paranoid freak who sees crime and conspiracies in everything!"

He could not believe that he was wrong, still he did not knew what to reply.

"Sir?" He heard Alfred's voice from the communication system under his cowl.

"What is it?" He placed his hand against his ear to hear him better.

"All of Arkham's cameras has just been shut down."

She was staring at him with her arms crossed and he was next to her, an ex-delusional killer and an ex-murderer. He would have liked to immediately turn around and leave casually, but the simple thought of turning his back on them made him feel like knives or bullets were piercing through his armor, shredding his skin and destroying whatever organs it would have reached. He started backing up slowly and uncomfortable under the weight of his own paranoia and distrust of them.  
"This must be him. He's escaping tonight."  
"If you are referring to the Joker, yes he is. He even left you a message, I shall send the footage from the surveillance system your way."

He started walking toward the window, glimpsing at her repeatedly as she was now following him with a smirk.

"Thanks, I'll be heading there."

Before leaving, he fully turned around and looked at Harleen.  
"What are ya waiting for? Go to him and do us a favor, stay with him."

He swiftly exited the kitchen taking the fact that she knew who it was about as an assumption for he had no time to waste. Furthermore, he felt like he was not about to get any evidences nor answers from them on his suspicions concerning their uncanny behavior.

March 16th, 0:43 AM, he was in the Batmobile next to the asylum where he opened up a screen in order to watch the video Alfred had sent him. The very second he saw Joker he was surprised of how comforting the sight of his nemesis was to him, after all it seemed as if he was the only one still acting as himself in this city. Here he was, standing in the middle of his cell, facing the camera with a cast on his leg. He proceeded on taking off his shirt and biting his wrist until it started bleeding. Blood was dripping down his chin and landing on his torso. He licked his lips as he turned his back on the camera. Dipping two fingers in his wound he used the sanguine fluid to write on the wall, scribbling SEE YOU SOON followed by a smiley face. He glanced at the camera and gave it a wink before the system shut down.

The vigilante was in the security room with three guards, one of them was the same as last time. He spoke up.  
"We've checked all the cells since the shut down, the bad news is that Joker got out, the good news is that this entire building is completely sealed, there's no way he can go further, so he's probably hiding right now. We've been looking for him."

He seemed confident that it was impossible to escape, but the hero knew better. Normally, Batman would have asked the guards to get to safety and let him seek the clown himself, but he remembered that he told him that when he was to escape he would have to stand back and do nothing.  
"I'll help."

There was no trail of blood in any corridors, he figured that he must have used his shirt as a bandage.

His mission was not to put an end to his breakout, but to protect the Arkham workers. He had confidence that his foe could do this stealthily and he believed that making his operation go as smooth as possible would reduce the need for victims in the process. Simple sabotage, focusing the guard's attention on useless thing and fake events was in his mind. Helping Joker was the only way of protecting people from him.

4:48 AM, they have been roaming Arkham's hallways for hours and had not found him, but no one had been killed. The workers had no choice but to call GCPD to advise them that the inmate had successfully escaped. The dark knight was secretly thrilled, he had nothing to do but to wait for his next meeting with him, which would surely lead him to more information which could mean ending this case and moving to properly work on the sudden recoveries of Jervis and Harleen.

March 23th, 0:12 AM, a man has been running blind in the city street with a red device stuck on his head. He had been lucky that no car had hit him until the police arrival who quickly discovered that the machine on his head was a bomb and called Batman. The explosive had a one to two meters radius, was made in a way that the victim could not see nor hear a thing, only his mouth and nose were exposed, which caused him to be in a constant state of panic and fight back anything touching him. The hero recognized the clown style. He ordered the policemen to hold the running man down while he diffused the bomb. It must have been one of Joker's simplest mechanism as it only took around five seconds to diffuse it. However, it was not without reason that it was so easy to breach, a card fell down the machine as he took it off the person's head. On it he read some coordinates and a message: I CAN'T WAIT. He asked GCPD to take the man's testimony and left them for he was needed elsewhere.

The place was an old cabin located in between trees in an environment that was too small and too close to the city to officially be called woods. Still, there was no electric lights, no buildings, no roads led there and it was pitched black. The detective had activated his night vision. There was only one window to the cabin and a blanket was covering it from the inside. He put his hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath. He opened it only to get a load of light in his eyes temporarily blinding him. He grunted while turning off his vision and hearing him laugh.

"I just knew you'd use night vision!"

When he slowly started seeing again, the pale man was sitting on a mattress on which lied some blankets and a pillow. He was wearing nothing but his underwear, had some lipstick on, no longer had a cast and was holding the flashlight toward to ceiling lighting up the room for most part. Next to the bed was a pile of clothes, a box of cookies, two knives and a gun.

"I'm glad it's you. Close and lock the door, only freaks roam around this part of Gotham."

"I never thought you were into nature." He said while doing what he had been told.  
"You're right, I don't like it here." He stood up pointing the light toward the door so he could see if it was shut properly. "But this place is perfect for what I have in mind..." He then took the flashlight to his face like a kid ready to tell you a lame horror story. "Do you trust me, Batsy?"  
"I don't."

He smiled devilishly.  
"Then we're off a good start."

The clown rapidly threw the flashlight against the wall next to the vigilante, shattering it. He swiftly put his night vision back only to find out that the smaller man had not moved.

"You want me to assault you in the dark?"

"Of course, but there's more to it..."

"What do you want?"

"No suit!" He rubbed his right hand's knuckles. "You can't really feel me and I want you to..."

"Joker, you know I can't..."

"I can't see you, Bats!"

There no longer was any source of light in the room. He was confident in his skills enough to be comfortable in a fight without his suit and gadgets, but what was bothering him were the weapons next to the bed.

"Give me your knives and gun."

"Pick them up yourself, I can't see them!" He answered moving his arms around as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Batman took and placed them near the door, away from the man who was waiting impatiently turning his head toward any sound he heard.

"Are you done now?"

"I need to make a call first."

"You mean you haven't started yet!?"

He placed his hand on his ear activating his communication system in order to reach Alfred.

"You won't be able to contact me for a moment."

"Sir, are you sure?"

"I'll be fine." He took off his mask and cowl.

"Are you done now?"

"I am starting."

He heard Joker sighed with exaggeration.

Bruce was standing near the door in his boxers, the rest of his body was covered by gloom. He was realizing how cold this place was and that was motivating him to move, to fight.

"I'm done."

"Great! Now all you have to do is follow the smooth and sensual sound of my voice."

He extended his arms and walked slowly toward where he was hearing him now giggling.  
"Oh boy, we must be looking very stupid right now."

The hero felt a hand touch his shoulder and grabbing it, he then felt his other shoulder being grabbed.

"There you are!"

"Can we fight now?"

He was feeling him for the first time, feeling his hands with his long nails always softly scratching the surface of his skin. He was caressing his shoulders, biceps and pecs.

"You're really buffed... I was scared that your suit made up half of your mass, but you're not disappointing." He sounded calm.

He patiently placed his hands on Joker's waist bringing him a little closer. As much as he was eager to get on with the violence he could understand his enemy's fascination, for he somewhat had the same. The jester sealed any distance left between the two of them as he placed one of his hand on the larger man's back and with the other ran his fingers on the back of his neck scratching it only to end up in his hair.  
"I always pictured you with shorter hair." He could feel his face close to his. "Batsy, are you blond?"

The detective never thought about the fact that his foe might be wondering what hair color he had, but it was logical yet it amused him.  
"Maybe I am."

He moved his hands from his waist to his lower back, they could now feel each other breathing on their neck.

"You smell like expensive perfume and sweat." He chuckled faintly. "I don't know if I'm seduced or disgusted."

The hero could feel the smaller man's spine under his finger, he was surprised of how soft his skin actually was.  
"I always wanted to feel your skin."

"Really, you did?" Joker purred in his ear to which he gave a delicate bite wishing to provoke him.

He realized the double meaning of what he just said and was shocked of how much his enemy's action had filled him with lust. He stayed calm, trying to bury his desire under self-control.

"I was wondering if it had a unique texture due to the chemical incident you had."

Still holding on to him, the smaller man threw his head backward and sigh.

"Bats, you're so dumb!"

At this moment, the larger man leaned against him, placing his face close to the clown's neck.

"And you smell like rain and iron which is... different."

No reply, not a word, nor a single sound came out of the jester's mouth who's fast heartbeat could be felt through his chest. Sweet silence was filling the room and the hero was appreciative of it, but he knew where this was heading. A wave of heat rose up in his chest as he anticipated the other man's demand with his voice breaking the tranquility.

He moved his head easily finding the other man's lips ans started kissing it. At first Joker seemed surprised, but was very into it and began kissing back passionately. His nails were tenderly digging into the skin on the back of the dark knight. His lips were sweet and sticky because of his lipstick which earned him to get bite hard on the lower one. Bruce pulled back tasting the pale man's blood in his mouth, but it did not bother him, he loved subduing him in any way possible. He went on biting his neck and shoulder, hearing the clown's breath quickening. He no longer could hide his desire for he was hard and intensely horny, but so was Joker.

"Get on the bed." He said in a low voice almost letting him completely go, taking hold of one of his hand only.  
"All right I'll just... This is harder than it looks, well sound... Okay, I'm fine." The detective's arm was being pulled in weird ways.  
"Be silent."

"Found it!"

He got pulled onto the mattress in a more logical way. Carefully getting on it, he used his free hand to caress the other man in order to find out in what position he had. He was laying down on his back with Bruce standing on his knees next to him.

"If you want me to be silent you could always use that gift I gave you." Joker mocked him, pulling onto the taller man's underwear.

He pushed his hand away and undressed himself.  
"I don't..."  
"Oh right! You just had to throw it in the lake, I remember now!" He giggled.

The vigilante placed his hands on him in wonder of what he should do next but it seemed that the smaller man was only interested in talking some more.

"I really did put a lot of thoughts into that present. I just love making you happy, Batsy. Why do you always have to make things difficult?"

"Can't you just be quiet?!"

"Poor darling, if only you had..." He felt nails scratching his muscular thigh going toward his crotch,then he felt the hand taking a hold of his length stroking it slightly. "If only you had something you could gag me with."

In no time, Bruce was on top, with a knee on each side of Joker's hips. He grabbed his shoulder and clutched his green hair, pulling his head toward himself in a way he could control him. The jesters was in an uncomfortable position holing on to his partner by digging his nails in his lower back and thigh. At the moment he felt the tip in his warm mouth he had to pull him closer, he had to fill up his big stupid mouth, he needed to satisfy himself. His eyes were closed and his head thrown backward as he was letting the pale man pleasure him, which made him moan and gasp. From time to time, he would try to withdrew from his cock, but the taller man would always push him back on it. He loved how submissive he was, not making a sound and unable to stop sucking him off.

Suddenly, he let go of Joker's hair who pulled back panting.

"I need to fuck you." He said in what almost sounded like an order.  
Before he moved, the smaller man gave him a few slow long licks in order to get his dick as wet as possible. He proceeded to rudely push him and got in between his legs, holding on to the man's hip and his own cock so he could fuck him just right, sliding it inside slowly.

"Oh fuck..."

"Shut up."

He was holding the other man with both hands and penetrated him as deep as he could before he began humping him in an irregular rhythm that was pleasuring them both madly. The clown let out loud moans as the hero started going harder and faster.

"Shut... up."

Talking as proven to be difficult as he was panting and roughly screwing his nemesis who had a firm grip on the taller man forearms.

"Fuck..."

Bruce broke free of the smaller man's hands and quickly found his throat. He started strangling him putting a stop to his voice. He had never felt this powerful, his neck seemed so fragile under his strong grip. He kept fucking him, enjoying the silence as he was feeling nothing but intense pleasure and a fading pulse under his fingers. He was close, but he did not want this to end this quickly. He stopped and pulled out. Joker's breathing came back gradually, he must have passed out, yet he asked.

"Don't stop."

"Get on your hands and knees, we're changing position."

"The eye-contact making you nervous?"

He ignored the clown's idiotic joke while hearing him move, obeying. Again, he hold the man's hip and a part of himself and started screwing him once more, only this time he was aloud to moan. As much as he hated his voice, he had to admit to himself that there was something sexy in his ecstatic whining. He took a hold of the jester's cock and started masturbating him.

At some point the pale man was quivering at the dark knight's almost every move and screaming in pleasure. That is when he stopped stroking him, pulled out and got on top of him, holding his arms in a way he could not move.

"Why... Why are you stopping this time?" He tried breaking free unsuccessfully. "What are you doing?"

"I'm done." He lied.

"No, you can't do that... Batsy, you're not done. Just give it to me..."

"I'm done" He was burning with desire as Joker was rubbing himself against him in an indecent, pathetic and demanding way.

"Oh please, I'll kill people if you stop, I'll... I'll... I'm perfect for you... Please, just fuck me! Why are you doing this!?"

"I was wondering what you sounded like when you beg."

The jester did not even had enough time to think of a clever response as Bruce brutally shoved his cock back inside of him, making him moan loudly. He went back to stroking and humping him. The pale man climaxed first and the vigilante followed a few minutes later. He kept going for a moment afterward before pulling out. He was feeling relaxed, dominating, in control and he loved it.

Standing up, he began heading toward where he remembered the door and his equipment were. It did not took long for him to find it and started putting it back on with his mask first, switching night vision on.

"So you're the type of guy who just leaves."

"I am."

He turned around to look at him, he must have lied on the bed for a moment after sex since he had some semen on himself. His hair were messed up, his lipstick was smudged, he had blood on his chin, neck and shoulder, plus he had some ecchymosis on his hips and neck. He was looking filthy, still he had a smirk.

"Well you can't just leave, I'm threatening people with a bomb, remember?" The dark knight stood still and silent while his foe continued speaking. "Did I made you forget about all your problems? My bad..."

"You didn't." He replied ashamed of how forgetful he had gotten during their intercourse. "And this time was the last, because I'll be putting an end to your game."

Joker burst into a laughter.

"Dream on! Come here..."

He extended his arms waiting for Batman who obliged. The clown put his hands behind the hero's neck, holding on to him.

"I think I'll let you leave sooner than what I've planned. I think I'll even give you a head start for your cute little investigation on my bomb!"

"Why would you do that?"

"Shut up and take my gift, Bats!" He responded annoyed before slightly coughing and getting back to his usual tone. "The man who gave you tonight's invitation knows a thing or two about the bomb."

"I won't have to take anything from you next time." He replied without moving.

"What will you do if I don't show up? If someone finally gave me what I really deserve."

The detective was surprised by his foe's question, still he was glad he knew just what to say.  
"I would track the person responsible and bring him to justice."

He chuckled and leaned in to give the taller man a kiss before letting him go.  
"Goodbye, my darling."

The caped crusader rapidly left the cabin feeling deeply uncomfortable with the conversation he had just shared with his nemesis. It was usual for him to speak of his own mortality in such a realistic way and it was worrying the hero, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He contacted Alfred a few minutes after he had left the cabin in order to ask him about tonight's victim. That is how he learned that the unfortunate man had died from poisoning around thirty minutes following his arrival to the GCPD building and that his corpse was being kept in the morgue there. Before rushing to this location he took some time to wash smudged make up and blood from his face.

2:10 AM, it took only a few second before the doctor with the night shift, noticed him.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked very calmly.

Long time GCPD workers were no longer shocked upon Batman's stealth arrivals, for it was a common thing.

"A man has died of poisoning tonight, tell me how it happened."

"Tell you? I'll even show you!" She put on some gloves and went to a locker. "Give me a second."

Ironically, the morgue doctor was one of the building's workers who was the most lively. She came back with a bag containing a small red ball.

"I found this in the man's stomach, it had been there for around an hour when he had died. It was covered in poison."

"Didn't the victim felt sick?"

"Yes, but I believe that since he just had been through a traumatic experience he brushed it off as stress which is why he did not ask for anyone to examine him."

The detective felt depressed, if he would have dared staying a little longer with the victim he might have noticed that something was wrong and maybe could have saved him. Unfortunately here he was, another death on his conscience with nothing left but a red ball. He took the bag from the doctor's hand and opened it, grabbing the object he broke it.

"You just broke our evidence!" She expressed confused.

In his hand he delicately scattered the pieces finding a small folded piece of paper. He opened it while the doctor seemed reassured upon seeing this hidden item. A small message was scribbled on it, and while reading it, the dark knight felt his heart sank as unbearable anger rose up in his chest: JOKE'S ON YOU – THERE'S NO BOMB


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note**

I know it took a long time for this update and I'm sorry to inform you that this one month interval will probably become the usual amount of time between uploads. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Bonne lecture.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

The dark knight had spent the hours following his discovery of Joker's message searching for him, unfortunately, he seemed to have vanished. The past events had left the vigilante feeling idiotic and unskilled, plus he had an hard time repressing the bittersweet feeling his last encounter with his nemesis had filled him with. He was not embarrassed for the only one of them who was most likely to talk about what had happened was the clown, but surely no one would actually believe him.

Since their last session, the number of murders had rose in Gotham and Batman had not been able to solve any of them, furthermore nothing had been done with the prince of crime's style. He always kept an eye out for him, but he was nowhere to be found, he started considering that maybe he had left the city, or even the country.

He shifted his attention back to the rehabilitation case. Arkham had been releasing a lot of people with minor mental illness and the detective thought that maybe the releases and murders had a correlation. In order to test out his theory he asked the doctors of the asylum to wait longer before letting a patient out of the institution. Convincing them had proven harder than gathering enough data to figure out if there really was any link between these phenomenons. Unsurprisingly, there was a connection between the two, but without any killers to attach to any crime he could no longer force the psychiatrists to prevent anyone from getting free. As a result of this, after three months of perfect behavior, changing from an hopeless patient to a normal human being in a matter of 24 hours, Jonathan Crane had been released during the month of July.

Crane had spent a week at Jervis and Harleen's place before moving in his own apartment. The hero always kept an eye out for the three of them, but he was getting ready to call this case a miracle himself. They seemed perfectly stable and normal in their own original ways. He had always pictured his enemies becoming sane as a beautiful event in his mind, but now it felt like this was meaning the end of him. He was feeling lost in this new situation, meaningless and useless as the Bat, with fading foes that fought their illness and won without his help. As much as crime was rising, GCPD were not really relying on him since he had not been of any help, criminals had simply gotten better in their doing and no one could do anything about it.

Without fully dropping the case, he turned his focus on his equipment, on his way of working in order to find a way to upgrade everything and get better, to finally solve something. Consequently, he started spending more time at Wayne Tech with Lucius Fox, researching new technologies and working on improving gadgets. They did successfully pulled off some amelioration and he solved a few minor cases, but this was not enough. By the end of October he felt their ideas were falling short and shared with the CEO that maybe they were starting to lack originality and could find someone with more eccentric ideas to work in the company and take his creation to turn them into gadgets for the hero. Bruce did not went as far as to admit this was plagiarism and called this a plan for inspiration. Anyhow, Lucius accepted and started looking for somebody who's profile fitted.

Chance seemed to have been smiling to him as in the beginning of November Edward Nygma had been released from Arkham. As twisted as it might be, the detective was thrilled to learn he was free and apparently sane, he was exactly what he needed, an original and creative mind. Plus he figured giving a job to a recovered patient could be something that would actually make his company look good, furthermore it would make it easier to keep an eye on him, but he decided not to rush his decision and talk about it to Lucius when he would get the chance.

November 13th, he was in the car with Alfred driving when he explained his idea to him.  
"Nygma has always failed when up against you. How could he possibly come up with something that is better than your own ideas?" He responded.

"The reason Nygma failed had always been because of his personality, of his narcissism and ego, if he would have been reasonable, which he seems to be now, he could have stood a chance against me."

"Perhaps, but isn't working this close to an enemy a bit disregardful?"

They were getting close to the Wayne tower, Bruce was looking out of the window, he smiled.

"You're the one who's playing video games with an ex-killer."

"That is one way of seeing it." Alfred chuckled.

They arrived at destination, the butler turned to his friend before he left the car.  
"I know you are facing a difficult time, sir, but please think it through before putting your trust into Nygma."

"You don't have to worry." He said exiting the vehicle.

In the tower, he made his way to the elevator where one of his employee greeted him with a smile which he returned. They each pressed a different button and started going up.

"Have you met the albino guy yet?" She asked.

"Who?"

"Mr. Fox presented him to the whole team this morning stating he'll soon be part of it."

The CEO must have found someone for the job.  
"No I haven't met him, how is he?"

They arrived to her floor where she left while speaking a short sentence.  
"He's something."

That filled him with curiosity and optimism, after all he was looking for an eccentric mind to inspire his. Reaching his floor, he started heading to Lucius's office instead of his own wishing to meet this albino man.

He knocked and his friend let him in, inviting him to sit down, which he did not.  
"I heard that you found someone for the job?"

"The perfect man for it. You asked for originality and originality you shall be getting."

"Well, where is he?"

"I actually don't know." Fox picked his phone up. "He got a little impatient while waiting for you and decided to go outside. I'll give him a call."

He got up, his phone against his ear and waited for a moment.

"Mr. White? It's Lucius Fox, Mr. Wayne has arrived... His office and..." He suddenly had a confused look on his face. "No, thank you... I'll ask him." He turned to Bruce. "He's asking if you would like him to bring you a slice of pizza."

"It's morning." He answered perplexed.  
"He'll pass... What? Hello?" He hanged up. "I think he accidentally dropped his phone."

"His name is White?" Bruce pointed out guiltily amused.

"Yes, it's a bit... awkward. Well, he must be heading to your office as we speak." He sat back in his chair while the other man went to the door a placed his hand on the knob.  
"I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this."

"It will go away when you'll meet him, I'm sure." His friend reassured him.

He was walking rapidly through the hallways impatient to get to his office. Around a minute later he reached the long corridor leading to his destination, at the end of it was his secretary. He saluted her and went in the room where he sat at his desk wondering how much time he would have to wait for this man.

A short moment later his secretary called.

"Mr. White is here to see you."

"Send him in."

The door started opening very slowly, and he entered with his head bowed down, white hair covering his face, looking at a bag of food he was carrying. He was tall, slim, had glasses, was wearing black pants and a magenta shirt. He shifted his attention from his meal to Bruce and time seemed to have drastically slowed down for him. His heart stopped, his jaw dropped, he was completely stunned by the sight of the man's face. Green eyes with blond lashes, gray eyebrows, strong jaw lines, bleached white skin and pulpy light red lips with that unique smile. He did not say a word while the pale man sat down opening his mouth and filled the quiet room with his exclusive unforgettable voice that sent chills down the hero's spine.

"Are you okay?" He put his bag on the desk.

"I... I'm sorry. You just look like someone I knew... You look like him so much." He cleared his throat while the man started opening his bag and getting the items out of it.  
"A good friend of yours?"

"No, not at all."

White raised an eyebrow, losing his smile while Bruce scratched the back of his head, uncomfortable.

"That's a beautiful lie."

"You're calling me liar and expecting me to hire you afterward?"

He filled his mouth with a huge bite of his pizza slice and nodded while chewing.

"I don't think you're taking this job opportunity very seriously, Mr. White." He swallowed.  
"Jackson's the name, but my friends call me Jack." He opened a can of Pepsi and took a sip.

"All right, Jackson, what did..."

"Jack." He corrected.

The billionaire was deeply disturbed and wondering why he was here, even more troubling was the way he talked, slightly insinuating that he knew he was Batman. He was trying to act like he was nothing more than Bruce Wayne, but the real challenge with this situation was to keep calm and act as if he was nothing more than Jackson White. He could not understand how it could have come to this; after he had been missing for months, the most dangerous criminal in Gotham reappears to eat pizza on his desk during an interview to get a steady job.

"Okay... Well, you've met Mr. Fox and he seemed very impressed with you and I'd like to know why."

"So do I." He chuckled while the larger man frowned. "Seriously, the truth is, I know things about stuff."

"You're wasting my time."

"Just a little of it. Why so moody? It's not like there's a bomb somewhere just waiting to explode."

The detective knew what he was referring to and he clenched a fist, hiding his hand behind a speaker of his computer, trying to control his rising anger while the lunatic took the last bite of his meal.  
"A bomb?"

"Oh, it's just a manner of speaking." He finished his Pepsi, drinking it loudly. "Do you have a garbage bin?"

Bruce pointed to one side of his desk as the smaller man put his trash there, except for the Pepsi can, he put it in front of the athletic man and sat next to him on his desk.  
"If you bring the empty can to the grocery store they give you five cents and since I know you're short on cash, I'd like you to keep it."

"Look." The billionaire sighed, he was furious, still he was in control. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave or get serious."

He started giggling, the vigilante wished that they were in their usual costume on a rooftop at night so that he could just punch the annoying clown. Unfortunately, they were two simple men, having a foolish discussion that made no sense. Jackson took off his glasses and presented them to him, who did not reacted.  
"Well... Take them." White mocked lowering himself a little toward Bruce as he obeyed, putting them on.  
"Your eyes are fine. These are just... Why are you wearing fake glasses?"

"I look handsome with them, don't you think?" He got off and placed himself behind the billionaire grabbing his shoulders.  
"Do not touch me." He violently shrugged.

"Call the security." He whispered in his ear holding him firmly. "But before you do!" The larger man got up aggressively, turning around to face him. "Before you do, why don't you try pressing a few buttons on my glasses?"

Bruce was staring at him, his face was even more familiar and disturbing without any accessories. Jackson still had his dangerous hunger in his eye, he was smirking confident as he slowly took a step back. He placed his fingers on the sides of the glasses feeling a few very small and well hidden buttons. Pressing one, it activated an x-ray vision. He was completely astonished, but kept himself still and pressed another button to see as if the room was under black light, he removed the glasses.

"What else can it do?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Well it's linked to a map, it can be used as shades during a sunny day, it have a night vision, bla bla technology." He sighed. "This interview is boring."

"What inspired you to build these?"

"I was wondering what it would be like to see things like a superhero do." The pale man got closer and his grin widened. "You know, like Superman?"

"How did you built them?" He asked while giving the item back.

"With some tools."

He had a big mocking smile on his face as if he was nailing this interview like a champion. Truth be told, he was, Bruce had never been this worried about his identity, consequently he desperately needed him to be close to him in order to understand what was going on.

The billionaire smiled back and presented his right hand, awaiting a handshake.  
"Congratulations, Mr. White, you're hired."

To his surprise, the clown did not shook his hand but gave it a slap instead as an awkward high five while he was giggling.

"Of course I am."

Never in his life he had ever felt this much of a craving to punch the annoying lunatic in the face, but he had to keep acting.

"Before you leave, I will need you to give me your phone number and address."

He opened a drawer to take out a small paper and a pen, which he then gave to the smaller man. He scribbled quickly and gave it back. It was barely readable. Jackson started heading for the door.  
"Have a nice day, Mr. White."

"See you soon, boss." He replied in a soft voice.

He turned around and gave Bruce a wink before leaving. The hero was puzzled, furious and overwhelmed by his recurring inexplicable bittersweet emotions. He sat down placing his face in is palm sighing. He wondered if the information Joker gave him was right and gave the number a try, sending a simple text message consisting of "Jackson?". He received a reply around five minutes later.

Jackson: Customer?

Bruce: No, it's Bruce Wayne.

Jackson: Bonjour boss :)

He was glad he had not lied, now he will be able to track him down and go to him as the Bat. He decided to dig a little into what he was offering to his clients.

Bruce: Why do you have customer? What service do you provide?

Jackson: I wash stuff.

He was not believing him at all.

Bruce: I'd like you to come back tomorrow at 9:00 AM, we'll set up your office and start working right away.

Jackson: As for me, I think you should take all of them 32 pawns and shove them way up into your asshole.

Jackson: Oops, wrong person.

Bruce could not repress a chuckle at these uncanny messages.

Jackson: See you tomorrow.

November 14th, 4:47 AM, Batman is standing on the roof of a store near the apartment building Joker gave him as his address. He had decided to go there extremely late wishing to give an excuse on to how he found him that could be entirely unrelated to Bruce Wayne. He had not told Alfred yet of his return, he had not been comfortable talking about the clown since they last saw each other.

He stealthily entered what is supposedly his apartment by the master bedroom. The light was off, no one was in the room. There was a mattress on the floor, boxes with clothes in it, holes and cracks in the walls, empty food packages and his glasses on the floor. It was an ugly, filthy room and the vigilante was not expecting more from any other rooms of the place. Out of the bedroom he was in a short passage with a door to his right leading to the bathroom. He could see in it, crummy tools were filling the bath in a liquid, probably water. He continued and ended up in the living room that was linked with the small kitchen. Joker was on a chair asleep in front of a small TV lying directly on the floor in his living room. A table was placed in the middle of both room, on it was a pile of devices such as phones, MP3 players, cameras and a laptop. The kitchen was disgusting with rotting food scattered across the counter and in the sink.

He approached the pale man who was still wearing the same clothes as when he saw him earlier.

"Joker."

He woke up instantly and looked up at him.

"Batsy! I was expecting you much earlier... What time is it?" He got up walking past the Bat to head to the kitchen. "I didn't think I'd fall asleep."

"Joker, what are you doing?"

"Well... At least I'm not late." He said as he picked up a phone from his sink.

"Late for what?"

"A phone call." He slowly walked toward the hero. "It really is a shame that I had to disappear, right after we made love."

"We did not made love." He growled as Joker stopped moving and stared at him angrily. "I had to do whatever you wanted me to do."

"I didn't ask for it! You started it! Did you hear me say -Oh Batsy, take me here and now!-?"

He expressed those words in an higher pitch, awkwardly rubbing his hands on the dark knight who pushed him hard against the wall. He jumped back at him trying to punch him but the larger man grabbed both his hands and kicked him in the stomach sending him back into the wall.

"It was heading there anyway. You would have asked eventually."

"That's not true..."

Batman approached the smaller man who quickly gave his tibia a kick he was not expecting, but through the armor he did not felt much of it. He bent down grabbing the clown by his collar and pinning him with force against the wall.

"I can't rape." He lowered his eyes and smiled. "I can't do it."

"What are you talking about?" He made eye contact.

"You and I was fully consensual, I can't rape people. I've tried, it just does not arouse me when the other person is crying too much, you know? I don't get it, I mean, screaming is fine but..."

The hero punched the other man on the side of his face making him spit a little blood.

"You're disgusting!"

"And somewhat attractive to you, apparently."

He landed another punch on his face, some skin shredded next to his eye.

"Be careful with my face! You wouldn't want me coming in to work looking like a mess?" He started chuckling. "Am I right, boss?"

"What do you mean?" He pathetically lied.

"What do you think I mean?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking."

The clown facepalmed and sighed before he started furiously screaming.

"You're Bruce Wayne and I know it! Do you need me to draw you a picture or do you get it now!?"

"How did you find out!?"

"The same way anyone finds out a person's identity."

He stayed silent while the other man rolled his eyes.

"DNA, you world's greatest detective, DNA!"

The caped crusader let go of him and stood up feeling nauseous.

"Is that why you had sex with me?"

"No, that was not even suppose to happen." He grinned devilishly. "But thank you for making it happen." He stood up too. "I was simply suppose to get some of your blood on my hands and the floor during our fight."

"I never wanted to sleep with you."

"Yes you did!"

The arguing was stopped by someone loudly knocking at the door.

"White, you're gonna open this motherfucking door immediately!" An angry woman's voice came through.

Joker walked to the door and opened it slightly, hiding his place. He did not even had time to place a word before the woman started talking again.

"It's the fifth night in a row that I can't sleep because of you fucking yelling! If you don't stop right now, imma call the cops on your ass!"

"Oh, but you don't need to call the police, I've got an agent of justice in here. See!"

He rapidly opened the door exposing Batman to the woman who looked completely shocked.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a spanking to receive!" He slammed the door to her face and turned around. "Where were we?"

"What am I suppose to do?"

The vigilante could not believe he was asking his nemesis this question, but what else could he had said. Joker had proof of his true identity giving him complete power over Batman, he was now nothing more than a slave or a dead man. The lunatic pouted as he gazed at his miserable hero.

"Sit down, baby..."

He sadly obliged and let the smaller man sat on his lap, this was not worth fighting back. He placed his pale hands behind the dark knight's neck and smiled.

"You're safe here. You're always safe with me. Trust me."

"Safe with you? You have tried to kill me on multiple occasions."

"No, I was helping you." The jester took off the other man's mask slowly. "I made you stronger each time. I'm the reason you're still here, still fighting." He ran a hand in the man's black hair. "I'm the reason you're alive."

"I don't live for you."

"Could you die peacefully while I keep living, leaving Gotham into my care?"

"I live for the people of Gotham. My life is about justice."

"Yes and they're about to use the same argument to take you down." His tone got more serious on the last sentence.

"Joker, what's going on? "

"Well Batsy, truth be told, I'm not even sure as to where to start!" He jumped off the man's lap, standing up, facing him and scratched his head. "Justice, as you call it, is a myth. You see, what is seen as right and wrong, sane and insane, just and unfair is simply the result of society's opinion and nothing more, really. What makes you sane and me insane? Public opinion. What makes it okay to beat your wife in a certain county, but unacceptable in another? Public opinion. What makes it okay for you to beat up people and spy on them?" He lowered himself, grinning widely awaiting Bruce's answer.

"Get to the point."

"This whole sanity thing is a lie, Brucie! We're just bending our worst personality trait with drugs to be functional enough to keep a low profile." He sat back on the detective, placing his legs on each side of the man. "They're going to shift the public's opinion in our favor, as I'm speaking we're taking control of the media, we're taking control of any important information we can get a hold to, we're creating a network so big I can't even tell from where it begins and to who it ends."  
"By we, you mean all of the inmates that has gotten out of Arkham?"  
"Mostly. They do their best to keep me uninformed."  
"What is their purpose? Did you uncover my identity for them? Why would you obey?"

"You're identity was for me alone, darling. We have many goals, one of them is getting rid of you permanently and replacing you with a new champion." He placed one of his hand on Bruce's cheek. "I didn't like the idea of you dying so I convinced them that I should be the champion who would take care of getting rid of you."

"Joker, why did you need my identity? Why shouldn't I simply bring you back to Arkham?"

"You see, if I get back to Arkham it would risk blowing up their cover and they would have to find a new suitable champion and they don't want that. Do you remember the last thing we talked about?"

"Yes, what I would do if you were to get killed."

"I know you've been having trouble solving murders these past few months and sending me back there would give birth to another unsolvable case, if you know what I mean."

The dark knight placed both of his hands on the smaller man's waist without really realizing it. He bowed his head down, thoughtful. He did not knew what to make of the situation yet and was full of question, which made him somewhat grateful to have Joker by his side, for now.

"I'm surprised you haven't simply murdered them."

"Scarecrow, the Riddler, the Hatter, their deaths would need to be grandiose, Batsy. I can't just go on and end their life with a simple boring bullet, it would be mediocre! Besides, some allies I don't know about would just take over the plan and move on." He placed a finger under the vigilante's chin and slowly pushed his head up to force eye contact. "And that's why we need to be together, more than ever."

"You're basically asking me to uncover who should be your targets." Joker smirked at him. "Never." The jester chuckled and started placing kisses on the man's neck who did not reacted. "I don't need your help, I'll discover this conspiracy by myself."

"And I'll expose how Bruce Wayne fucked Gotham's most wanted criminal." He whispered in his neck, while the other man gritted his teeth. "Think about it baby, we'll be ruling this city together, like Gods."

The detective understood the little freedom he had in the situation, but was fairly pleased that his enemy was not interested in destroying the hero, but only the man. At least he had been right about one thing all along, the rehabilitation had been a lie, plus most the free inmates were responsible for the homicides.

"What was your role in all of this?"

"I had to distract you for a while." He gave the larger man some space by getting off him. "Now I'm suppose to be stealing your company and you're suppose to be busy with unsolvable cases."

"That's why you needed my identity."

"I had to reach you somehow and I just love how everything coincided." He giggled. "For some odd reason, they don't trust me around the Bat!"

Bruce stood up while Joker went to a closet in order to get a coat and some shoes out.

"This whole thing is a little over complicated, don't you think? All that to kill me..."

"As I already said, they have other goals, you're just one of them." He started dressing up. "We're watching the birth of a new powerful criminal organization, baby!" The clown threw his hands in the air with excitement. "And we're gonna ruin it all!" He happily shout out.

Some brutal knocks were heard through one of his wall and the voice of a screaming woman came through.

"Shut the fuck up, Jackson!"

He turned to it and simply screamed but the yell quickly transformed into an uncontrolled laughter so loud it was covering the following knocking and insults coming through the wall.

"I'm not convinced. I think you want me to uncover the allies so you can get leverage and take control of this organization." He put his mask back on. "Besides, I could simply take you all in for drug use."

The pale man was close to his door, putting leather gloves to his hands.

"Look. There's a reason you can't take us in for drug use and I know you have a lot of questions, but right now I need to go. I need to get to a phone booth for the call." He turned his back to the hero, facing his door. "Now, you're going to hack into my conversation and we'll be into this together or I'll have to destroy you, Bruce, because without your old pal J here, you're going to need to be the Bat at full time to solve this case."

He opened the door and glanced back at Batman with a smile as he was walking out.

"And why on Earth would I want a pitiful organization when I'll have you?"

He closed the door leaving the detective in his crummy apartment, knowing he would never have the time the inspect the place if he wanted to listen to that phone call. In all of the emotions he was filled with a the moment, guilt was overwhelming the rest. He was feeling selfish as he was wondering if he was placing his life as a man above justice by following Joker's lead. After all, he believed everyone to be equaled and keeping the lunatic free to save his own skin from embarrassment would be a great egotistical action coming from him. He had to face the consequences for what he did with his enemy. Then again, maybe the clown really was into something and his help would be needed. He was stuck in a dilemma and he could not turn to Alfred for advice. Furthermore, he had the make the choice rapidly for he knew how impatient the jester was. He was certain of only one thing, no matter what decision he was going to take, it was going to have terrible repercussions.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note**

I was thinking about changing the way I structure my story. By that I mean inserting less elements per chapter, which would allow me to be a little more descriptive about things and probably update the story quicker. Anyway, I'll see what I want to do.

Until next chapter, enjoy this one.

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

Batman had stealthily followed Joker through the street until he had reached the phone booth. He hid in the darkness of an alley way and hacked into the public phone ready to hear to following call. He had a visual on the pale man and doubted he could perceived him back, but he probably was aware of his presence. No one was outside, not even a drunk or some homeless person. It was a cold and dark night with a lot of wind yet there seemed to be no noise.

His nemesis was tapping his foot impatiently. He got his phone out of his pocket and glanced at it for a moment as if he was looking at the time and sighed loudly, it echoed in the empty street. He got some earphones out of his pocket, plugged them to his phone and put them on, it made the vigilante wondered how much early had they arrived. The jester smiled and started dancing awkwardly in the restricted space the booth was offering him. The hero already had a repulsed look on his face when the other man suddenly started singing awfully.

"Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me, I think they're okay! If they don't give me proper credit, I just walk away!"

The peace and quiet of the night was now drowning in his terrible voice. The dark knight was staring at the ground with a discouraged look, glimpsing at the clown from time to time surprised he had not woke someone up already with his singing.

"And I am a material girl! Some boys romance, some boys- Oh!"

The phone started ringing, he stopped everything putting his earphones away and picked up. At the same time, Batman got his focus back and started listening to the call.

Joker: Yes?

Caller: Joker?

Joker: Who is this?! I normally get Eddie! Where's Eddie?

Caller: Well, he's busy. It's Jervis.

Joker: He's not dead, right? 'Cause I got dibs on his murder.

Jervis: What? No! Anyhow, I needed to advise you of the next meeting. It's today at 23:00 in the abandoned school, the right room will have 18050419 written on its door. You got that?

Joker: Yeah, a series of numbers on some door.

Jervis: Eh... Good enough. Bring nothing.

He hung up and so did Joker. He got out of the phone booth and started heading back to his place. The detective did the same, still undecided about uniting with his enemy and somewhat skeptical of all he had told him.

6:20 AM, at Wayne Manor. Bruce was glad Alfred was asleep, he would have to tell him about the situation eventually, but if he could avoid doing so he would. He went to his room and laid on his bed, in about an hour and a half he would have to get up to go to work, with Joker. He knew he would have to give him the answer then, yet he could not make up his mind. He decided it was best to try not over thinking this at the moment as he absolutely needed some sleep.

Unfortunately, something else abruptly perturbed his mind, the clown's angry neighbor had heard him call him Bruce and saw him as Batman. He almost jumped out of his bed, but stopped himself almost immediately as he had no idea of what to do. He reflected on this problem, realizing this woman was not a person of influence, when she would come up with her theory and probably publish it over the Internet he would only have to give a simple alibi or a clever response for he had a much more significant reputation than she did.

Laying back once again in the bed he started emptying his mind, trying to drift into a sleeping state. He was relaxed, breathing steadily with his conscience careless and about to fall asleep when all of the sudden his phone rang. Picking it up he saw to name of the caller, Jackson White, he answered annoyed.

"What?"

"Red or green?"

"I'm trying to sleep. What is this about? Is this important?"

"Yes, very! What shirt should I wear today? I've got a red and a green one."

Bruce sighed while the other man kept speaking.

"The green one matches my eyes, but the red one makes me look so fierce. What would you prefer?"

"I'd prefer to go back to sleep."

He hung up and turned off his phone.

8:43 AM, he was in the car with Alfred driving. The billionaire was having a hard time staying awake even though he was overwhelmed with stress as he still did not knew what to tell Joker.

"Have you made a decision about Nygma, sir?"

"I guess I did." He replied slightly uncomfortable with the question. "Lucius hired somebody who might be fine for the job."

"Well isn't that convenient?" He optimistically said.

"No it isn't. This man is..." He cleared his throat bowing his head down, searching how to summarize this whole thing.

"This man is what? What's wrong, Master Bruce?"

"I don't have enough time to explain it all to you now. It's too complicated."

The butler had a worried expression on his face as his friend had been looking so drained for the past months and now it seemed something else had rose up above all the other problems he already had. They were nearing the Wayne Tower which helped in making this sudden silence in the conversation a little less heavy.

"For every dark night, there is a brighter day." Alfred said.

"Well said." Bruce smiled. "I think I've heard this before..."

"It is probable."

They stopped and he left, unready for this uncanny day he was about to go through.

As he got closer to his office he noticed two things, Joker sitting on the floor waiting for his arrival and the fact that he was wearing a blue shirt. He decided not to even mention it and greeted him like he was no one but a simple employee and invited him in the room where once the door were closed they could talk normally. He sat down on his chair while the pale man sat next to him on his desk, like last time.

"So Brucie, are we partners or what?"

"I still don't see why I'd need you. I can avoid your death by not sending you back to Arkham, but I don't have to work with you either."

"I guess you could do that." He smiled in his own devilish way. "And I guess the people of Gotham will be very shock to learn about all the dirty things we did in that cabin."

"Justice is greater than me, greater than my own pride." He got up placing himself in front of the smaller man. "I want you to understand that you don't have any power over me."

He started laughing in his face loudly.

"Don't you think I know that? I've never wanted to control you, you're unpredictable and I love it!" He delicately placed his hands on each side of Bruce's face and softly said. "Don't you see, baby? You've always been free with me. All that have happened in your life, all of this, all of us, is your own doing."

He grabbed Joker's wrists firmly, holding his hands away from him.

"I never asked for any of this." The smaller man slightly struggled to get his hands free and got pinned down against the desk as if he had flat out tried an assault. "Now I'm stuck here with you! What am I suppose to do with you?"

The detective was leaning over him, pushing him against the top of his desk, their face where only a few inches away from one another. White smirked.

"With me, you do anything you desire." He purred.

The tone of his voice sent an unwanted chill down the larger man's spine who broke off and promptly stepped back.

"I'd like it if you could disappear."

"I did, for months." He stayed down, placing his hands crossed behind his head. "It was so cute, Batsy, so cute the way you looked for me everywhere."

Bruce wondered if this was an assumption or if the lunatic really did kept an eye on him during the past months. He was feeling foolish for his last sentence for this was not actually what he would have wanted from him. He was keeping quiet as he had no clue of what to say, fortunately for him the other man sat up and opened his mouth forming a phrase that made the vigilante's heart skip a beat.

"Knock on the kitchen window." He chuckled. "Are you going to strangle me too?"

"Tell me everything." He approached him, a voracious look in his eyes.

"Why? It's not like we're working together." He turned his head falsely uninterested.

"Maybe I'd like us to."

The hero could not believe himself as he placed his hands on the other man's waist, wishing to somewhat charm him into a confession. He felt even more out of place when Joker turned his head toward him with an amused yet uninterested look. He started giggling as he pushed Bruce away while getting off the desk.

"Pathetic! You should really stick to intimidation."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with you."

The billionaire smiled embarrassed by his clumsy action and the pale man took off his glasses placing them on the desk. The bruise Batman had inflicted next to his eyes was way more obvious without this accessory and it made the man lose his smile in slight guilt.

"So, do you want us..."

"Yes, I do." The jester's grin widened to this answer. "But you must understand we have a facade to keep up."

His new ally headed toward a mirror in the office getting a small foundation case out of his pocket.

"Trust me, I know." He started applying make up on his wound. "Knock on the kitchen window is simply a hint about a new malfunction with Arkham's cafeteria windows since the last renovations. You see, it is possible to place very very small objects in the outside window frame and it get stuck there. From the inside, knocking on the window can make these objects falls in the inside frame..."

"That's how the drugs were getting into Arkham. The graffiti was advertisement."

"Let me finish!" The clown shouted frustrated before getting back to his usual weird sprightly tone. "But you're right, that's how it gets in."

"No guard ever noticed this?"

"From the outside, I don't know who and how the person was getting the drugs there unnoticed. From the inside, a person hitting on something for no reason is pretty common, so it wasn't seen as a big deal whenever somebody gave the window a little knock." He placed the foundation case back in his pocket after being done and turned around. "Also, all of Arkham's workers are complete idiots."

Bruce gave a small nod disappointed in the work of the people in the asylum. He was feeling hopeful, but knowing how unreliable the clown was he still kept a doubt in his mind. He picked up the glasses and handed them to the pale man.

"It's all very interesting, but Lucius is expecting us. We'll continue later."

"Right, let's make some new technology that Batman will mysteriously use too." He started giggling. "Seriously, how does people not figure out your identity?"

"I could say the same about you."

"Oh, I get compared to myself quite a lot."

Lucius Fox and the two other men were sitting at a table. Only him and Bruce were brainstorming ideas, all of them too problematic to become actual projects. The whole thing was pretty awkward, as the CEO did not knew who Jackson really was and that this man knew of the Batman's identity. Meanwhile, the pale man was to act as if he had no knowledge that his work was to become of use for the vigilante, even though upgrading him up was his main goal. After another few useless concepts had been thrown on the table and quickly forgotten, White said something.

"Are the GCPD still using bullet proof vests made out of Kevlar? Because Kevlar is overrated. Do you guys like spiders?"

"I feel indifferent when it comes to them, why?" Fox asked back.

"Golden orb spider's silk once processed can be made into lighter, thinner and stronger vest than Kevlar. This new technology could expend even further than just the GCPD, think about the SWAT, think about the military, an army of almost bullet proof and faster soldiers! To be frank, no World War II pun intended, I'm disappointed in you two and this entire company to not have come up with this sooner."

He had just silenced two of the brightest and most powerful men of the city and he did so in less than thirty seconds. They were waiting for his next words, quiet in the discomfort the small man had just created.

"Mr. Fox, I'd like you to compile data on how many cop's death were not avoid by a bullet proof vests and how many complications had been linked to this piece of equipment. Bruce, I want you to look up who makes this silk and get us a good deal on it. I'll be working on the design in the meantime."

The billionaire was not ready to simply let him boss him and his friend around.

"I think I should work on the design, while Mr. Fox makes the deal. You'll be the one doing researches this time."

The jester smiled and caressed one of the larger man's shoulder, softly answering.

"As you wish, boss."

He then left the room to seemingly go do what he had just been told. Bruce turned to Lucius an annoyed look on his face.

"Let's never make the mistake of letting him publicly speak on the behalf of this company."

"Agreed."

The day at the office went better than he could have expected, then again, anything was to be expected. He designed new vests and equipment parts while also working on what could become his next suit of armor. His CEO had contacted many potential suppliers of the material and also started working on a way to present the project as an ethical one to the public since the silk could only be properly harvested from genetically modified organisms. As for Joker, he did what he had to do, not more, not less. He also spent a great deal of the day racing through the hallways on computer chairs, cracked a vending machine by crashing into one and played ping pong with the youngest janitor using tablets belonging to the company and a big piece of bocconcini cheese. Unfortunately, this made the billionaire realize that in order to keep him around he would have to watch him constantly, just like a kid. Still, he was glad the clown had not insulted nor physically injured anyone.

It was evening, like usual Alfred was to pick him up from the Wayne Tower and get him home, yet this day was a different one. The two new allies had decided to continue the investigation in the lunatic's crummy apartment for the detective felt he could maybe pick up some clues from this place itself. The fact that the butler was to meet this Jackson White face to face was making it somewhat easier for Bruce as he would not have to summarize anything, the man would surely rather understand the situation.

The car stopped, both men got in and the driver turned around.

"Evening, Master Bruce and..."

"Hey! I know you!" Joker said looking at Alfred who's face had just shifted to confusion.

"So do I..."

Time seemed to have slowed down for the vigilante who tried keeping a neutral expression while staring at his friend in hope he would not blow this up.

"Now, where have we met already?"

White burst out into a laughter.

"Oh my, don't tell me you drank that much!" Alfred started smiling as if he knew what the pale man was talking about. "We were at the same club two months ago!"

"Of course..." The older man replied while turning his head to the road and starting the engine. "I never miss their Tupac memorial party."

"I wish I could've heard of this yearly party sooner."

The larger man slowly turned his head to look out the window highly perplexed by the conversation his partner was having with his butler.

"I must say, you look quite different."

"Well, I was rocking an other style then, wasn't really looking like myself..."

Bruce stopped listening to their conversation. He was disappointed that Alfred had Joker right under his nose in September, but did not recognized him at all. It made him wonder how many times the criminal had blend into crowds and society in general to hide from the law and even from him. Although the conversation taking place beside him was an exceptional one, he was still proud of how both of them were handling themselves. Especially his butler, he was convincing to the point he himself started believing that he really did not recognized Jackson to be the clown prince of crime at all, but only this club customer from some months ago.

They both left the vehicle in front of the apartment building where they entered and started heading up. Arriving at the door, the smaller man started unlocking it when the angry neighbor from last night showed up in the hallway.

"Oh Jackson... Why are you getting home so early? Go out or somethin'."

"No can do, I just love bothering you."

She rolled her eyes and slammed her door while Bruce followed his partner in the filthy apartment. Upon entering, the lunatic headed to a cabinet in the kitchen where he took out a small container of some yellow liquid and headed to the bathroom. The detective was feeling uneasy, everything in this place could become a threat to his life if Joker ever get a change of heart. He slowly walked in the kitchen and started looking through the cabinets. They were full of home cleaning products, a few unidentified chemicals, few cups, bowls and plates, some chips, cookies and candies here and there and a whole lot of knives. He opened the fridge to find white wine, lemonade and steak, nothing more. To his surprise, to freezer did not contain any human body parts, rather a lot of meat, identified and pretty easy to trace back to local butchers.

"Don't even think about drinking my lemonade!"

He headed back to the living room without answering, where he started scrutinizing it just like the kitchen. Nothing of importance was there, only the chair, TV, DVD player, really nothing of importance. Bruce was about to check on what the other man was doing when suddenly one of the many phones on the table started ringing. From the corridor emerged Joker, shirtless, wearing a homemade garbage bag apron and some yellow dishwashing gloves he shook off of his hands to answer.

"Customer?... What a shame... We've all been there, I know. I still remember my first time..."

He chuckled and continued talking while the larger man went to the bathroom curious of what he might found. The blue shirt was on the floor and next to the bath was the chemical container, now empty. The tub was still filled with tools and yellow liquid with a brush to clean them, this was just a cleaning product he had made himself.

"Hold on, hold on... Darling, be careful in there! That stuff is bad for your skin!"

He rolled his eyes and went to the bedroom. Under the blanket on the mattress he found a machete and a loaded desert eagle, which he unloaded, but could not confiscate for a man have the right to own a gun. Still, on second thought, he decided he would steal it whenever the chance would come up, but right now Joker would notice if anything was to go missing after the detective's inspection. He got through the boxes where he found some cash and a lot of clothes, but curiously enough no purple suit. Bruce joined the pale man who was now starting to get annoyed with this customer of his.

"I don't do carpets, I already told you... That's not my problem!... I guess you're doomed to have a gross carpet, that's all!... No! No matter what price you offer, I just don't do carpets!" He moved the phone from his ear to his mouth and whispered. "Carpets will be humanity's downfall..." He hung up and turned to the hero. "Nah... Even when I do it, random still isn't funny."

"I was thinking about this meeting of yours tonight, I could add a camera to your glasses and watch it while you're there."

"There already is a camera and it's linked to..." He hovered his hand above the pile of electronics things on the table before picking up a tablet. "This one!"

"How much battery life does this have?"

"The glasses or tablet? 'Cause the glasses are good for about 24 hours, but the tablet, one hour max."

"I'll have to stay here..."

The jester nodded and started undoing the other man's jacket.

"Get comfortable."

Bruce grabbed his hands.

"I'll do this myself."

The smaller man walked away as if he did not really care and retrieved his yellow gloves before heading back to the bathroom. He was followed by the hero who leaned on the door frame, watching him cleaning the tools.

"Talk to me, Joker." He said, as he continued undoing his jacket.

"Can you believe this weather we're having!?" He giggled.

"You know what I meant." The clown started humming while continuing what he was doing. "What's the role of everyone in this gang?"

"Johnny-Boy seems to be the leader of the faction I'm in, he's the one who will give us order or take care of us if we were to disobey."

"Is Crane the one committing these unsolvable murders?"

"Well he surely is responsible..." He seemed thoughtful and confused for a moment. "I really can't answer that."

Bruce had to keep in mind that everything the man was saying could be lies, yet he did not get the feeling that he was not answering the question to protect Crane, he really seemed clueless.

"Eddie works as a spy, gathering information on people through surveillance footage, e-mails and what not. He's nothing but a nerd, as usual."

He started emptying the bath as he seemed to be done, he took off the apron and gloves and started washing his hands, torso and face with water from the sink.

"Tetch is the last one to get hit by the rain when we all stand together, he's also some sort of inventor, but he's very secretive. I know he modifies the drug when necessary and he's suppose to come up with some other modified things..."

"They really don't trust you."

He dried himself off with the blue shirt before walking past the larger man to head to his bedroom and go through to boxes.

"I don't get why. I mean, it's not like I'm a traitor or anything." He turned to the hero with a large smile and gave him a wink.

"Just keep going."

"And then there's the icing on the cake, me! The future Champion, the one who'll get rid of you and take your place." After he had taken a few clothes out of one box he started taking off his pants. "But we both know how this part will play out. You and I... Look at me when I'm talking!"

The detective had turned his head away from Joker who was now taking off his underwear. He knew that the other man wanted him to feel uncomfortable, but the truth was that he was not. The reason he was looking away was to offer him privacy. He turned his attention back to the jester and tried focusing as much as possible on his eyes, on his face, not his body.

"Like what you're seeing?"

"What about Harleen?"

"Oh, she likes the sight of this sexy body." He moved his hands as if presenting himself.

"I was talking about her role in all of this."

"Don't worry baby, she's my ex right now."

The vigilante angrily sighed to the man's stupid answers. He glanced at his pale body, covered in scars and realizing he was probably responsible for most of them. He then grasped on the fact that he had close to no guilt for he knew most of them where from fights he won in order to protect innocent people. Without knowing, he had started staring, understanding that from now on, to keep up their facade he would no longer have the chance to inflict pain and suffering upon the lunatic. He had never comprehend until now, how meaningful this sort of ritual was to him, to physically subdue the pale maniac whenever he felt the need, to take complete control over him, to be a rightful hero and him an evildoer.

"Do you always eat with your eyes before taking a bite?" Joker purred.

Bruce snapped out of it, cleared his throat and went back to focusing on his green eyes.

"What is Harleen's role in the organization?"

He started putting on some underwear and dark gray pants.

"She was the first one to promote the drugs and... That's pretty much it."

"Where did the drugs came from?"

"No idea who the official creator was, but somebody saw some potential in Harley, enough to ship it to her before anybody else in Arkham."

"Poison Ivy."

"That's what we all thought at first, but she haven't been in contact with anybody in Gotham, not even Harley for about a year now."

The detective scratched his chin while reflecting on who could be behind Quinzel's freedom. He could not take the jester's word without any proofs, but he still had to theorize on other possibilities than this person being Ivy. He came up with the displeasing idea of this organization, those drugs being from Amanda Waller. She possesses all the resources necessary to make such a project realizable and with this organization formed of the most intelligent, most dangerous criminals under her control, possibilities were limitless. This was very likely of her and the vigilante decided he would investigate this lead soon, but without Joker knowing.

The pale man was buttoning a white shirt while walking toward the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror.

"Hmm... Too much white... I miss my green hair."

"Wear a dark coat over it." He headed to the living room to plug the tablet and get familiar with the system his partner made. "It makes no sense for the gang to keep her if she is as useless as you say."

"Well, she isn't completely useless..." He arrived in the same room, wearing a black coat. "She brings snacks at the meeting."

"She could be useful to us. You don't know much because they don't trust you, but she would. Maybe she knows some things you don't."

"Are you really asking me to play with a woman's feeling in order to get what I want!?" He responded falsely shocked. "I just love the way you make me do things."

That statement left Bruce vexed. He sat down on the one chair with the tablet, now looking through the smaller man's glasses, he was looking at him.

"I guess I should go if I don't want to be late."

"Don't do anything foolish on your way there. I'll be watching you."

The clown caressed the back of the other man's head.  
"See you later." He left.

22:42 PM, he was entering the abandoned building and switching to night vision. The hero was glad the changes Joker were making on his glasses were also transferred to the way to camera was filming. He started roaming the somewhat creepy hallways while humming. There didn't seemed to be anyone there, not even a homeless person which was rather surprising. He kept walking in the building stopping at every door until he found the right one marked with the series of number 18050419. He turned off the night vision and knocked.

The door unlocked without opening, he pushed it open. The room was filled with lamps and in the middle of it was gathered school desks forming one big table. On it was one lamp and of course snacks, lots of them. Crane was sitting at the end of the table, on his left was Harleen and on his right was Jervis. She started laughing uncontrollably upon seeing him while the two other men simply looked at her in wonder.

"What?! What's so funny?" He asked while taking a seat next to her.

"Nothing, Jack Frost!" She continued laughing.

"The white hair looks great!" He angrily replied.

"I didn't say it was ugly!" She calmed down a little. "Ya look nice like eeh..." She started giggling. "A fierce snowman."

"You've made a right choice by deciding to be an albino, it is very believable." Crane said, probably in hope of preventing a fight between the two of them. "Have you gotten into Wayne Corporation?"

"Yes, but only recently, there's not much to tell."

"I still think we should have sent Nygma." Tetch said.

"Speaking of Eddie, where is he?"

"He should arrive shortly." Jonathan answered.

Joker grabbed a bag of chips and a can of Pepsi then proceeded to start eating. From the corner of the image it was possible to see Harleen, just staring and smiling. He finally turned to her.

"What?"

"Ya look so different."

"That was the point."  
"I think I like it."

Somebody knocked at the door and Tetch got up to unlock it once more, Edward entered.

"Eddie!"

The Riddler only nodded to him and took a seat in front of him. Crane stood up.

"I'd like us all to take our Reds before starting this meeting. Jervis?"

The small man searched the inside of his coat for a moment before pulling out a small bag containing what seemed to be red marbles. He handed it to Jonathan who distributed some around the table, one for him and Nygma, two for Tetch and Harleen and three for Joker. Jervis, Crane and Quinzel ingested them quickly while Edward and the pale man inspected them before placing them in their mouth. Bruce was appreciative of the clown's gesture, placing each one of these Reds at the level of his glasses, giving the detective a great visual on what the drugs were like. Scarecrow still had not sat down, he went back to addressing the group.

"As you all know, our goals consist of changing the law, changing Gotham in our advantage for good. Now, public opinion is an easy thing to control and with Nygma working his way through private information, blackmail will be our first and most valuable weapon against opposition for now. Despite the fact that most people are easily controllable, there are some who aren't as worried about what people think of them, aren't afraid of us nor the law and will most likely oppose us. Penguin..."

Just at the sound of his name, long sighed and gripes of disapproval rose in the room, forming unclear words of hate coming from each and every person around the table. Crane cleared his throat and started speaking louder, above the complaints.

"I might not know your personal business with him, but we cannot disagree on the fact that he is a powerful man of Gotham. Having him as an enemy would only slow us down and restrain us on our actions. On the other hand, having him as an ally means more power and the chance to make the changes we wish to accomplish with this city."

"This man will betray us on any given occasion." Edward said.

"That is why I called you all here, we must find a way to convince him that we are worth something. We must form an alliance, share something in common that would break under treason."

"Why don't we just shoot him?" Harleen asked, which made Joker giggled.

"He's always surrounded by henchmen, we'd have to start a full blown shooting war to get to him." Jervis explained.

"We have the entire night to come up with an idea." Crane concluded while sitting down.

"He's just another idiot enslaved by money and money is an easy thing to make. Why can't we just pay him to not bother us?" Joker said.

"Don't let your hate blur your vision of him. Yes, he's likely to appreciate money at first, but when we'll start shaking things up and gain power over what he already have he'll get jealous, he'll want that power for himself..."

"Now listen here, Pumpkin head! Just one gang war to control an entire city isn't a big of a deal." Joker replied emphasizing on the number.

"He's got a point." Harleen agreed.

"I know you're more of a guy who works alone than a gang leader, but you have to trust me on this, a city is normally worth a lot more than just one fight. This is the opportunity of a lifetime!" The clown continued.

"All right, let's say we can take on his gang, then we will have to deal with all of the other gangs bellow him. We will slowly lose forces, until even the weakest of these organization could be able to defeat us. War would be our downfall." Jonathan answered.

They started arguing, words piling over each others in a cacophony of disagreement. Meanwhile, Quinzel seemed to have made a weird sign to Tetch who looked confused. The detective was disappointed to see that his partner had totally lost focus on what could have been important, as the woman stood up and walked past Crane to end up pulling the small man away from the table with her. Nygma glanced at them before getting back to listening to the two men arguing. Bruce watched in the corner of the image how Harleen was bent down to speak with Tetch in secrecy, he wished he could be hearing what they were saying, he was trying to make out what was happening. She was whispering incomprehensible things, he seemed to be disagreeing with most of them. They then turned toward Edward for a second and got back to talking together. It ended weirdly, Jervis grabbed her face with both hands and seemed to have been searching for something into her eyes, like a doctor inspecting a patient. She was very comfortable with him doing so and that caught the attention of the jester.

"What are you two doing?!" He rudely asked.

The small man let go of the woman who stood up straight and followed him back to the table.

"We have found a solution." He declared. "Penguin have a lot of cash, a lot of muscles and a lot of weapon, but what he does not have is a lot of intelligence in his organization, beside his own. He needs somebody smart, but without any leadership skills, somebody who can work with information just like he does. He needs a Nygma."

"What?!" Edward expressed.

"Good information is always powerful, whether it is old or new. Nygma could give us what he have found out so far and we'll work with that. We will give him to Penguin as a gift in exchange for him to let us be, to let us make our changes in this city..." He continued before being interrupted by Harleen.

"Also, Eddie'll be wearing a neckbomb, so betrayal equals to no more brain for Penguin!"

"No! Out of the question! Absolutely not!" Nygma got off of his chair.

"This could actually work..." Crane said.

"I'll agree to this only if I can hold on to the detonator!" Joker stated.

"Oh God, of all people, not you!" Riddler continued slightly distressed.

"Nygma, you won't be in danger for as long as you are useful to Penguin." Crane explained.

"I don't feel at risk because of my capacities, I'm sure once Cobblepot will see the way I work he'll find me to be indispensable. What I am uncomfortable with is leaving my life in one of your hands!"

"Eddie, why are you so scared? You'll probably find a way to diffuse the bomb even before I start feeling like killing you." Joker said.

"I want the detonator to be in pieces, I want you all to hold on to one piece of it. You will all have to agree in order to end my life." Nygma declared, looking at the clown.

They all looked at each other, knowing how long of a time it can take for them to all to agree on something, especially that important.

"Why not?" Harleen said.

"I agree." Tetch continued.

"I did not even think we would ever need to murder you." Scarecrow added.

They turned to Joker who had not said anything so far.

"If it comes to it, I want to be the one pressing the button." He finally agreed.

Crane stood up once more and addressed each member of the group.

"Joker, keep working as usual. Jervis, Doctor Quinzel, let's make this bomb and operate Nygma now."

"Here?" Edward asked.

"Don't worry, we will go to a sanitary place." Jonathan assured him. "I will contact Penguin and arrange for a meeting as soon as possible." He turned to the jester. "Now go, you get to leave first today."

He started grabbing as much snacks as he could, fitting some into his coat and suddenly Bruce's phone rang. It was Alfred, he answered.

"Sir, the GCPD has just made contact about a bank robbery that is turning into an out of control shooting."

Not now, he did not have time for this. He wanted to stay, to keep watching, he really was looking forward discussing everything with the pale man, but now his responsibilities had just crashed down on him.  
"Pick me up, there's no car I can use here."  
"Are you still with him?"

"No and I can't explain anything to you now."

He hung up knowing his butler would arrived in the following minutes. He exited the building, joined with him in the car where he tried summarizing the situation under a minute and then went on crime fighting. He was wondering what Joker might think when he would come home to find out that he had left without any explanation. Surely, he would quickly figure out that the hero was needed somewhere else, for now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

November 15th, 16:52 PM, in a closed room somewhere in the Wayne Tower was working Jackson and Bruce on some design concerning what may or may not be the next suit for the hero. He was very annoyed by the pale man's presence and was avoiding completing his work since he thought it would be better for the dangerous man to know close to nothing about his next armor. The dark knight was getting extremely sleep deprived and was starting to feel the effects of it, although he would never admit it. He was highly unfocused, his mind kept drifting off on unimportant things, his head was killing him and the never silent man he had by his side for most of his time was not making it any easier. At least they had spent the day surrounded by other people, which was somewhat preventing him to start any long senseless conversation with him. However, now they had been alone in this room for about ten minutes and the larger man was waiting for Joker to open his mouth and start his babble.

There it was, that moment, when the small man put his pencil down, sat back in his chair while locking his green eyes on the billionaire, licked his lips quickly and took a short breath. It seemed slow for the detective who just imagine shoving that red solid ball gag back into that large stupid mouth to shut him. He could not believed he actually was missing the clown's gift and he could not accept that the smaller man was right to think that his hero would have loved it.

"You're funny some times, you know that?"

He did not answer, he just stared with a face that was angrily begging for silence.

"Like when I threatened to ruin you by making a scandal out of our little session and you acted all heroic -Justice is important, do it I don't care, Gotham something more justice!" He stopped to laugh at what must have been the most pathetic Batman imitation in history and continued. "But then you decided to work with me anyway..."

The vigilante looked down, unable to find a reply that the madman could not twist nor use against him, for the truth was that in this current situation, he truly needed him, but he could not bring himself to say it.

"That means I could still make that sexy scandal and have you too!" He enthusiastically added.  
"Maybe I should match your DNA to Joker's and ruin you too." Bruce rapidly answered.

"Maybe we were secret lovers."

"Maybe I was a victim."

"Maybe you're Batman!"

"Maybe I should stop being Batman."

Joker dramatically gasped.

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me." He said, quickly realizing how idiotic it was to challenge this lunatic.

"Oh! I will!" The pale man replied taking his pencil and focusing back on his work. "Not now, but I will."

Bruce kept his attention on the other man, regretting his words and grasping the fact that he was one of these rare individual who really knew who he was, furthermore he also was that one person who could hurt him the most.

"I know you will."

His mind was narrowing his thoughts to the man in front of him, who had seemed to deliberately ignore his last phrase. The fact of having someone who knows so much about him, even more than he could ever imagine always left him with an eerie feeling. However, for that same person to have been present during years of his life, to be standing in front of him in this precise moment and yet still be a complete stranger was leaving the dark knight with a sensation comparable to agoraphobia; fully lost in what seems to be an endless area, yet suffocated by the crowd occupying it.

Right now he was Jackson White, he also was Joker, he was that club customer from two months ago, he was to become this new Champion and he used to be someone before all of that. He still is someone under all of them. A person with a face like no one's, a voice like no one's, unique ideas, unique way of doing things, unique way of moving his body, a DNA that does not match anyone else in the entire country...

"You're not from here." Bruce suddenly stated.

White turned to him with a confused look on his face.

"You're not American."

"All right Brucie, I can admit that I am not always right, but I'm pretty sure that this is America." He answered pointing toward nowhere in the sky. "And I've been living here for a pretty good while."

"I'm not talking about you as a citizen, I'm talking about your origins." The clown was clearly not following where his partner was going with this and the larger man continued. "It all adds up. No one in this country, not even the ones deceased who's DNA where registered in some data bases beforehand matches yours nor even share enough similarities to be considered as part of your family. It makes sense if I consider that your family may simply not live in America, that you've been born some place else."

The jester smirked and started giving the billionaire a slow sarcastic clap.

"Wow... Well, good job, detective. You figured it out..." He giggled while leaning toward the other man. "You're right, I wasn't born in this country. Actually, I was born in the same hospital as Jervis Tetch, it's located near the Queen of Heart's garden somewhere in Wonderland."

He ignored the absurd reply his partner had just gave him and kept scrutinizing his facial traits.

"You could be Dutch, maybe..."

Joker laughed in response and the other man did not mind it, in truth he was slightly smiling as he was feeling like finally getting somewhere with him. His real origins were something he could look up whenever free time would present itself to him, that would surely be in a long time and also take a while to figure out, but to Bruce, this was all worth it.

"You are soooo obsessed with me!" Declared the pale man.

"I just want to know you..."

"You already do!"

"...the same way you know me."

He kept his devilish smile and somewhat craving started growing into the intense stare he was already giving to the hero. Knowing the lunatic, he placed one of his hand under the table to secretly clench his fist and wait prepared for his assault. He could not understand why that triggered him, but he was used to him suddenly going off. Which, in this case, he did not. He wondered if it was that drug, those Reds, that were miraculously working or if maybe violence was not what the madman had in mind.

Tension was rising in the room that has been quiet for perhaps five seconds. He was saying nothing, simply strangely staring and starving for something only he could know.

"We should go." Bruce broke the intense tranquility. "I won't spend this night with you, I'll be checking out these windows at Arkham and working on..."

"I had plans, anyway." He carelessly said.

"What plans?"

"Some cleaning needs to be done."

"I still don't believe you serve people that way."

They piled up the sheets containing various bullet proof vest designs and lock them up in some safe office drawer. As for the papers concerning the next Bat suit, Bruce kept them for himself. Upon leaving, the larger man grabbed one of Joker's shoulder and addressed him.

"Keep me updated on what you're doing tonight and don't do anything stupid."

"Same goes for you." He chuckled.

23:00 PM, Batman was at the asylum, analyzing the windows. It did not take much time for him to see that his new partner was telling him the truth since he found two Reds by knocking on the glass just as indicated. He placed them back to retrieve them once more in order to be absolutely sure that this was the way the drugs were making their way there.

He went on explaining the situation to the workers who would temporarily fix the problem by sealing the entire frame with a large amount of caulk.  
The vigilante was looking forward studying the drug in the Batcave for he had been longing to understand the sudden sanity of his foes.

23:48 PM, upon his arrival, the hero took off his cowl before fetching his cellphone to contact Joker.

Bruce: I've found two pills in the windows, I'm about to analyze them.

Bruce: I'd like to thank you for telling me the truth.

He did not knew if his last message was out of place, but he truly was grateful for the pale man to have helped him.

The caped crusader set up his lab appropriately and started his inspection of the drug. First of, even though the Reds were looking like red marbles, they did not have the texture of one, it seemed in fact that only the exterior was solid and on the inside the narcotic was actually liquid. The component of the drug were surprisingly hard to figure out, even with the use of the Batcomputer and he could not comprehend why. However, he still managed to pick up some of the components. It contained polyethylene glycol which reduces the toxicity of a drug while making for longer-acting medicinal effects. Reds also had a high quantity of lithium, very commonly used in medicine to threat bipolarity, depression and even, to some level, schizophrenic episodes. He also found fluoxetine, a chemical active on obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic disorder, panic attacks and can even help a person through some sort of dependence or unhealthy habits. Finally, the drug contained starch which is an important chain of molecules that is produced by green plants as an energy store which, in that case, allowed the pill to dissolve for absorption. The last component made Bruce reflect once more about the possibility of Poison Ivy being behind the Reds, but then again any good botanist could probably harvest this element. Even though his research on this new drug was far from done it gave him the chance to trace some kind of profile for the person he was looking for; it was either an highly intellectual individual in the field of science or a person full of resources working with teams of scientists. It still was a concept opening to a vast option of suspects, but it was ruling out any ideas of the Reds being nothing but the result of some random easy narcotic mix done by some drug dealer.

His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by the vibration of his phone receiving a text message which he promptly picked up to read.

Jackson: Good job detective, your parents must be very proud!

Jackson: Oh... Oops.

He furiously sighed using all the self control he possessed to not break the phone in his hand. Of course he was expecting him to make some facile cruel jokes on the topic at some point, but it still made him enraged. He took a deep breath and tried continuing the conversation as if this was not affecting him at all.

Bruce: What are you up to?

Jackson: I just convinced a hobo to eat his own dog! He was so miserable, you should've seen the look on his face.

The hero literally felt slightly nauseous while learning about this. Managing to persuade a man with nothing to kill his own best friend must have required a lot of violence from the lunatic. Moreover, there was nothing he could do about it now and he knew he would have a hard time not hitting his partner next time he was to see him. Telling the pale man how much of an asshole he was was all Bruce wanted to do, but at the same time he knew there was nothing he could say to make him feel remorseful and truly hurt him. He put down his phone and went back to the Batcomputer in order to work.

He started researching what could the government gain from freeing the inmates, from these criminals to form a gang that seemed to be much more bent into political corruption than violent activities. He was aware that Amanda Waller often uses the most dangerous humans on Earth to perform an immoral action to which the person in question could also take the blame for or suffer all of the consequences followed by the job leaving her and the government to look completely dissociated.

In this particular case though, the goal of the organization was very unclear. They seemed bent onto passively controlling crowds and political parties. Their goals were beneficial mostly for them, any other person who were positively impacted by their actions were simple coincidences.

Another thing not adding up was the fact that emptying the asylum from its patients was not a financially profitable situation for them. As depressing as it was, all medical services such as hospitals and asylums were working the same way any business was, with the main objective being to obtain as much money as possible from people. Emptying Arkham was making it slowly lose profit just like a store losing its customers.

Bruce did not knew what to make of all of this whole gang situation, with it being nameless and so immensely obscure. During his research he found out that Amanda Waller was to have some meeting located in Gotham for the next month, he noted the exact date being the 22th of December, he would confront her then.

It was 2:46 AM and he was done with all he could do for this night. Of course he could still ask a few questions to Crane, Tetch, Nygma and maybe Quinzel, but in doing so he would surely put Joker's life in danger as he would be called a traitor before anyone else and he could not risk that. He was glad to have someone working with him and the gang, but it was unfortunate that he was despised and not trusted by almost all the other members.

For the dark knight, it was earlier than usual to call it a day and this was making him happy. After all, he was intensely sleep deprived and good long nights of sleep where rare things in his life, so he jumped on the occasion. In no time he was in bed, trying as hard as he could to free his mind from over thinking about any little thing so that he could fall asleep.

It was the middle of the night when he suddenly woke up from an unknown cause. He sat on his bed lightly nervous and highly annoyed by this unusual situation. He listened to the quiet of the night, trying to pick up any odd sounds, but he heard nothing. His eyes started scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary and found one thing about the armoire on the right side of the bedroom. One of its door was almost closed, but not fully. He looked at it for a good moment. He was feeling childish for being this paranoid and decided to brush it off as his own doing.

He moved his attention away from the armoire and that's when he noticed it. On the left side of the bed, from under it was slowly crawling out and without making any noise while doing so a tall and slender man. He was already halfway out of his hiding place when Bruce first saw him. He jumped and landed with one knee on the back of the intruder who let out a small scream of pain and surprise. He immediately recognized Joker's voice, so he covered his mouth with one hand and grabbed his right arm with the other. The last thing he wanted was for Alfred to wake up and have to try and explain whatever was going on. He quickly got bitten and his reflexes made him took away his hand. During that short moment, the clown swiftly moved his free arm to grab Bruce any way he could and pulled him off of him with all his strength. He successfully got the larger man off his back and on the floor, but the vigilante still had a firm hold of his right triceps. To completely free himself from him, the jester rapidly roll on himself ending the quick move with a forceful punch to the man's elbow, making him lose his grip. They both got up as fast as possible once free from one another.

"Surpriii...!"

The hero rushed his hand on the man's mouth and one palm on his torso to violently pin him against the wall. He received many fast jabs in the stomach and side of his body making him promptly step back almost out of breath. Then, the lunatic clumsily lunged at his opponent who caught him by the head and his right arm. Twisting his arm he, with a controlled amount of force, slammed Joker's face against the top of a small dresser, swiftly placing both of his arms on his back like a policemen would. The battle was still not won as the clown started moving like a devil in holy water, trying to break free from Bruce.

"What now?! We stay like this?" The pale man mocked.

"Shut up."

He needed to keep him silent and under his control, which he did not knew how. He examined the room and noticed a silk tie with the knot still done a little on the left of the dresser. He dragged the complaining man's face against the wooden surface until they had reached the accessory. He hastily placed the tie around the smaller man's neck using his left hand while keeping him under control with a firm grip for a short time. Placing both of his hands back as fast as he could to contain the maniac, he grabbed the longer part of the tie in between his teeth and proceeded to pull in order to strangle him until he would pass out. He could not fight him to same way he used to, he could not leave any marks on his body, they had that damned facade to keep up. He knew the soft silk would let his pale skin intact after the asphyxiation.

After the jester passed out, the vigilante was not sure of what he should do with him, but he was aware that he did not had a lot of time before the awakening of Joker. He had a strange idea that would allow him to have all the time he needed to figure out what would be a solution to whatever this situation was.

Dragging the small man to his bed, he placed him on top of it and went to gather all of his belts and some of his ties. Using the belts, he tied each of his legs the a corner of his bed, and attached his hands high up to the sides of the bed head, placing him in an half sitting position. Finally, he placed one tie to his neck and many to perfectly cover his mouth.

Stepping back, Bruce glanced at his set up feeling overall disturbed and confused. He directed his attention to the armoire now wondering what might be inside. He opened it to find out that the clown had simply properly disposed of his dark coat on a hanger. Searching through each pockets he found his glasses, phone, a knife and some money.

A muffled growl captured the detective's focus, turning his eyes to the man he was now holding captive only to meet with his frenzied vivid stare. He kept moving anyway he could, pulling and pushing against the belts in futile efforts of freeing himself while grunting and growling like an untamed animal. The larger man went to sit on the bed, right next to him and place his hands on his hips.

"Did you bring anything else with you?"

The clown's muffled voice responded and even with all the ties covering his mouth, the hero could pick up the harsh tone he was using. He was furious, this break in of his really must have not turned out the way he would have liked it to go. After rubbing his hands pretty much all over his body, the vigilante was assured that the pale man had bring nothing else. He went on speaking to him in a low voice as if a conversation was possible.

"Why did you come here?" Joker frowned but did not make sound. "You have my number, if you absolutely needed to see me you should've called."

In response he started laughing, the sound barely making it out of the ties, but the way his chest shook was clearly giving away what he was expressing. Bruce bowed his head down and scratched the back of it perplexed, he knew that sending the jester to his home would not solve anything, he would simply come back.

"I think I'll keep you here for tonight. We'll leave early in the morning and head to work."

The madman raised a eyebrow looking even more puzzled than his partner who started sliding pillows behind the small man's back. He went on removing the man's shoes and undoing the first buttons of his shirt in order to get him a little more comfortable. Pulling out the blankets from under him was pretty easy since he was light, he then placed them over the pale man. He would have loved to sleep away from him, but he knew better than to leave the maniac unsupervised and restrained by some ordinary belts. Although Joker was in the middle of it, the bed was rather big and the larger man had enough place to sleep next to him, still not without touching him. One of his leg was over the other man's and he could constantly feel his clothes against the bare skin of his muscular arm.

"Get some rest."

Of course he laughed uncontrollably in response, but that was expected by the detective who simply took a hold of the tie around his neck and started strangling him while hushing arrogantly. It was like training a dog with the help of a choking collar and it surprisingly made Bruce smile. For the first time in what felt like a year, he was in control and he was calm. The clown passed out once more and the hero fell asleep shortly after.

Once more, he awoke, this time with a burning sensation in the chest, heart pounding intensively and his breath quick. He was beyond shocked upon realizing that Joker had freed one of his hand and was smoothly masturbating him. He swiftly pushed his hand away while sitting up.

"Get... Get your hand off of me." He spoke with an uncertain and broken voice, which made him feel ridiculously weak.

He rearranged his boxer properly while doing his best to remain calm, fighting any emotions tormenting him. His head was spinning, he was intensely aroused, somewhat nauseous, very furious and absolutely lost. The larger man slowly turned his attention to the maniac who had his liberated hand laying on his thigh and a satisfied look in his eyes.

"Don't touch me." He finally said with an ordinary voice.

He was troubled by the pale man's reaction to his order. He nodded and placed his hand back into the belts trying his best to tie himself back up. Bruce lied down next to him, turning his back on him as if he was no longer dangerous. Truth is, right now he could have stood anything but looking at him. The man beside him was crazy, but far from stupid, he knew how the hero loved him, silent and obedient. There he was, quiet and immobile just like him. A false serenity filled the dark room preventing both men to correctly sleep, relentlessly glimpsing at one another, awaiting for something unknown to take place.

It was 6:00 AM, the sun was about to rise and the dark knight could no longer stand the uneasy atmosphere inhabiting the bedroom. He took a deep breath and turned to Joker who was not asleep either.

"I'm about to set you free, we're gonna leave soon. Don't make too much noise."

He slowly took off the ties on the clown's mouth hoping for him to comply.

"I don't know why you asked me to stop, you really seemed to be enjoying it."

Bruce ignored him, and went on undoing the belts.

"You can use the bathroom if you want to shower or anything." The larger man said while getting off the bed.

"Okay, Brucie. Not talking about the elephant in the room." He replied with an amused tone while heading to to bathroom. "The elephant with an eight inches long trunk." Added the jester while chuckling and heading toward the toilet to clearly take a leak.

"Fine. We'll talk about it after you're done."

The vigilante rapidly closed the door not at all surprised by the shameless attitude of his partner. He started dressing up immediately deciding he would rather not take a shower with the pale man around. The door to his bathroom opened.

"All right, let's talk. Also, where do you keep your gel?"

The detective walked passed him opening a cabinet in order to get his bottle of gel and lazily threw it behind his back for the other man to catch.

"Joker, what we did in the past won't happen again." The unconvinced clown giggled in response. "I don't want to do those kind of things with you."

"You're mind is telling you no! But your body! Your booodyy's telling you yeees!" He sang while the other man took out his toothbrush.

"Not so loud." The maniac kept on humming while styling his hair. "The physical part of this matter is not the real problem here."

"I agree..." The small man purred while gazing at his pretty up reflection in the mirror.

"The problem is you, Joker." He lost his smile and turned his attention to Bruce. "I prefer doing this with people I lo..."

He stopped to think about his next words carefully. Declaring that he only had sex with people he loved would have been a lie for he slept with so many models and meaningless persons just for fun and keeping up appearance.

"We're working together right now, but when this is done I'll have to send you back to Arkham..."

"False! We're going to triumph over these punks as the Champion and the Batman. Then we'll be together fore..."

"No. I'll have to stop you and you'll try to prevent me from doing so. There will be only me remaining free and you locked up in the asylum, or only you and you alone remaining alive."

"I wouldn't kill you, baby." The larger man started brushing his teeth. "This will end with us winning together and remaining together. You're different when I'm not around." He approached the hero who was making terrible efforts to stare at the sink. "I make you stronger, always did. You've spent the year roaming this city like a miserable and desperate imbecile."

"I was searching for a lead." He harshly replied.

"No, you were searching for me."

Once more, he was trapped in a senseless conversation that had no way of being concluded. He decided to simply get back to the point and brush off all of what they have been saying.

"Let's just not sleep together. Let's just be simple allies."

"You're awful at conversing, you know that?" The clown laughed. "As you wish, darling. No touching, no fucking nor fighting. Batsy'll go loony without his play thing." He merrily added while the other man finished brushing his teeth and started combing his hair.

"You're not a play thing." He took the bottle of gel and applied some. "Grab your things and follow me quietly, we're leaving."

"Right now? But I'm hungry."

"We'll just stop at some 24hours fast food place, you like that kind of stuff."

"Seeeee?" Joker stopped moving and stared at the detective with an over exaggerated smile.

"What?"

"You do know me." Happily declared the clown before proceeding to walk with his partner through the manor.

Bruce left a short note to Alfred consisting of : I'll bring my car from now on. He then left his home accompanied by the jester who kept gleefully chitchatting about anything and everything and what not.

He was ready to face another excruciating day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

They had spent the morning in Bruce's office where the vigilante worked on various things while his partner kept stuffing his face in fast food while looking out the window and commenting on every little things : Didn't I kill this guy? - Oh wow! Brucie, look! This hobo just threw up on a cat! - I'd like to tickle all these little children. - This guy with gold chains looks just like your butler. - Oh, I meant strangle.

It went on for an hour or so until he was done eating and drinking, he then proceeded to take his usual place, sitting on top of the desk next to the larger man.

"What's the plan for today, boss?"

"We're suppose to receive the processed spider silk, we'll give our vests designs to some other workers who'll build the prototypes. If they're fast enough, we should be able to test it tonight."

"What's in the Reds?"

"Lithium, starch, fluoxetine, polyethylene glycol and I can't quite figure out the rest of the ingredients." The pale man sighed in response.

"I guess I'll have to figure it out myself."

"No, I only have one left. I'll try again."

Joker scratched his head thoughtful and turned his attention to the detective who was reading the news surprised that his discovery of the drugs didn't seemed to appear in any article. He thought that maybe the people in the asylum were too ashamed to tell the public that the released of the most dangerous inmates might have been a terrible mistake.

"Take it." The clown suddenly said, to which the billionaire simply looked at him confused. "Take the last Reds."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're crazy. It'll make you do and see what you right now can't."

"I am not crazy."

The jester started laughing but before he could reply he was interrupted by the office phone ringing. The small man clicked on speaker and answered.

Joker: What's up?!

Secretary: Eh... Mister Wayne?

Bruce: I'm here with Jackson, you're on speaker.

Secretary: Yes, about him. I've got a lady here who wants to see him. She claims to be her cousin.

Joker: My cousin?

Both men looked at each other absolutely perplexed.

Secretary: Yes but... All right she went away. I'm just not sure, it's Harleen Quinzel, I didn't know if I could believe her and she seems to be on something, maybe she's on a lot of dope... Oh, she's coming back.

The hero stared at his partner awaiting for some explaining, but he was in complete wonder of what was happening.

Joker: She's my cousin, but could we keep that secret? I mean, she really makes the whole family ashamed and we don't like being associated to her, you understand?

Secretary: Not a problem.

Joker: Bruce and I are very busy right now, could you tell her to wait a bit. Maybe ten or fifteen minutes.

Secretary: Of course, Mister White.

She hung up and the clown got up and screamed out.

"What the...!?"

"Calm down." Bruce interrupted him. "Do you have any idea why she would come here?"

"Yes! I have many ideas! How stupid can she be?! She's going to blow my cover!"

"If you keep screaming like that, you'll blow it by yourself. Why did you get involve in her lie?"

"What if this is gang related? You did find the Reds yesterday."

"What if it isn't?"

"Then we'll have long pig for supper!"

The vigilante tapped on his desk in a way to invite his partner to sit back, which he surprisingly did.

"Come to think of it, if this isn't gang related, this still is no problem. We need her to trust you, we need more information." He opened up a drawer and picked up something incredibly small from a hidden compartment. "This is a camera with a microphone, maybe you could place it on your glasses, it looks like a small bolt. I'm sure you'll have to follow her somewhere."

"I need an adult." He joked while placing the device to the frame. "Your hidden gadgets are so greatly convenient, darling."

The hero got up and approached the phone to take it, while the pale man simply turned himself around over the desk.

"Ready?" The billionaire asked and he nodded unexcited. "She can come in." He addressed his secretary through the phone.

The door opened slowly and she stepped in closing it immediately behind herself. She looked beyond stoned, her pupils were so dilated you could barely see the light blue coloring her eyes and she had deep dark circles under them. Her hair were lose and seemed as dirty as the big black hoodie she was wearing and the tight jeans covered with dirt, mud and what not. She stood near the door, smirking and unblinking.

"Hey."

She simply said and White chuckled, she was a complete mess. The larger man stepped forward. It always was amusing to him whenever he had to introduce himself to people he already knew very well.

"Hi, I'm Bruce Wayne." He politely presented his hand to her.

"And I'm high as hell. I-I mean Harleen Quinzel."

She gave his hand a slap as an awkward high five attempt. The clown could not stop himself from giggling.

"Are you all right?" The billionaire asked.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just the... you know, I still have to take med-medication. That's a new thing. I think it ain't right for me."

"Would you like some water?"

"Beer. I mean yes! Thank you..."

While the hero obliged slightly worried, Joker got off the desk still mocking the blonde and talked to her.

"What's wrong with you, kiddo?"

"I dunno. I'm having the worsts fantasies. I mean Freudian slips! Damn..." The vigilante gave her a glass of water which she drank under three seconds. "Thanks, my mouth was so stupid."

He burst into a laughter, so did she and Bruce smiled finding the situation to be comical.

"So, why did you come here?" The larger man questioned.

"Because I need to... borrow... him for... today." She spoke slowly, visibly putting a lot of efforts into not saying anything wrong. "It's a d-d... ga... f..." She started stuttering and moving her arms around as if this was a game of charade.

"Family thing?" The jester quickly asked.

"Yes!" She excitedly said.

"There's a problem in the family and you need me there."

She happily nodded turning to the billionaire clearly hoping this would be enough to get out of this place with Joker.

"And what might be this problem, if I may ask?"

She kept her large smile, but anyone who knew her the slightest could pick up how fake it was. She probably was daydreaming about knocking the rich man out and fleeing as fast as possible.

"Yeah, shut up. Of course, my bad." She scratched her head embarrassed and continued. "Grandma's in the... hospital." Harley took on a serious look and turned her attention to the tall man's green eyes before easily saying. "They don't know if she'll make it." He lost his grin picking up that these were not forced words and the hero wondered if she really was referring to someone. "I think she'll die in a few days, to be honest."

"I'm so sorry..." Bruce said with a distant tone as if they really had just met.

"I just want Jackie to spend some time with her." She stated to the detective raising many questions in his mind.

He glanced at his unusually silent partner who was just standing there, gazing at nothing with a blank expression on his face. Surely, he was acting this reaction and he was amazing at doing so.

"Of course." He patted Joker's back. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks, boss." He calmly said while the girl grabbed his arm and exited the room with him.

He went back to his desk where he used the computer, starting the programs in order to begin spying on the two of them, a thing he truly was not looking forward doing. He put on some headphones and waited for sound and visual to load up.

Harley: ...etable in a muffin! Ya think you're better than me!? Pff... I'm ripped like some fancy dirt... I can't speak.

The clown's laughter echoed through the headphones, the microphone was working just fine and the visual followed a second after. They were alone in the elevator.

Joker: What on Earth did you take?

She simply shook her head as an answer, showing off that she would not tell him right away.

Upon finally leaving the tower and reaching some alleyways and tranquil streets they started talking again.

Harley: He found the Reds, they'll know, they'll never come back to me... He'll take us back to Arkham. We're killing... testing... We need to hide traces of the drug in ourselves. I'm on something Jervis just made. It's bad.

Joker: Who's dying?

Harley: Everyone, slowly. Crappy drug! Three test subjects, we need ya to clean them.

Joker: Where are we going?

Bruce's heart skipped a beat at the woman's choice of word; the pale man was to clean up the bodies. Even though she was on some narcotic he had to put some consideration into this, the lunatic had been running his mysterious cleaning business for a while.

Harley: A truck not far, Dr. Crane's waiting there. He's on something too.

Joker: Why do you always call each other doctor?

Harley: 'Cause we earned that doctorate!

It would make sense if the jester was the one behind the perfect crime scenes, maybe not the murderer in each case, but the one covering up the evidences. After all, the vigilante had been keeping him out of Arkham for him to not suffer the same fate, which he knew now could not.

Joker: You really look terrible today.

Harley: Well, y-you too!

Joker: Ha! You stuttering liar.

Of course, it must have been him all along. He would know the truth about this cleaning story when the clown would finally get to the bodies of those unfortunate subjects.

He watched through his partner's eyes, as they approached a dark van, Harley got behind the wheel and Joker sat next to her in the passenger seat. He turned around directing the camera to Crane, sitting in the middle seat of the back.

Joker: What's wrong with you?

Jonathan: Beside my face and left arm, my body seems to be responding to stimuli in an unexpected manner.

Harley: He's all messed up.

She started the engine while the pale man reached out for the immobile man who's eyes simply widened. Swiftly, the woman grabbed the lunatic's hands pulling them away from Crane.

Harley: Leave him alone, y'already have me to play with!

He stopped and turned to her.

Harley: I meant the te-test subjects...

She began driving and staring away.

Joker: No you didn't.

Jonathan: I've had news from the Penguin last night, he wants all of us to meet tonight.

Joker: Where?

Jonathan: He haven't decided yet, I proposed the Iceberg Lounge but he said he would never let you two back in again.

They laughed together at whatever memory they were sharing.

Jonathan: Until then we better figure out a way to hide the Reds in our systems.

Joker: What if we legalize it? It's just a medication after all, plus we know it's working fine.

An unpleasant silence filled up the vehicle to his words.

Meanwhile, Bruce was trying to figure out where they were heading, so far it seems they were going to a quiet residential zone of Gotham, which would be an uncommon place for a secret lab.

Harley: We can't. It-It's eh...

Jonathan: It would take more time to legalize it than hide it.

The billionaire had to let go of his screen for a moment, they had just received the material and he had to hand out some designs. He got back just in time to see that they had stopped at some small building next to a University. They got out of the car and Harleen went on picking up Crane to carry him. The jester started mocking them upon seeing it and the hero chuckled too behind his screen. Seeing the master of fear being carried like a princess by Quinzel had its comedic charm.

At the door, she knocked with her foot, Tetch answered letting everyone in. This was not a secret lab, rather a normal one probably owned by one of them. There were laws framed up all over the walls such as a list of illegal chemicals, what makes a test subject legal, how to not be held responsible for one's death, this all seemed to be legal, the detective could not believe his eyes. He wondered what company was working with them, allowing this to happen. His partner was walking around the place, giving him as much information as possible, scrutinizing the equipment and trying to open every door.

Joker: Where's Eddie?

He turned to the gang, Crane was working at a computer with one hand and Harleen was sitting on a chair while Tetch was getting ready to take a blood sample from her.

Jervis: Room 3, he's resting and he's fine. Go take care of the test subjects in room 2.

Joker: I need to see Eddie, I want to take a look at that bomb.

Jervis: You'll see him tonight, get working.

He threw a key to the taller man who caught it.

Bruce was interrupted by a call to inform him that some of the golden spider silk they had ordered were missing. He acted dumb, but deep down he already knew that White must have been responsible in some way, probably to build his Champion suit.

Back to his screen, the clown was in room 2, which seemed to have been a refrigerator. The bodies where placed in shelves along with boxes like they were nothing but objects. On each of them were a file and he went to the first body and opened her's. She used to be an inmate in Arkham, suffering from extreme depression she had become a danger to herself and was locked up for about six months. She still had to take medications afterward, but never seemed to have had any downfall in her illness. The detective could not figure out why she would have been related to this, maybe they offered her money or hopes for a deeper meaning in her life just like cults do with people looking for answers and happiness. However this was unimportant for now, Joker had just reached the last page of the file containing one sentence: Cause of death. The rest of the page was blank.

The jester had a pencil in his hand and what he wrote down sent chills down the hero's spine.

Overdose on prescribed medication. (Prozac 60mg)

Verified by Jackson White

He went back to the lab and opened a cabinet which contained many bottles of different drugs, he picked up the Prozac. He took a look around before heading back to room 2. Crane was on the phone, possibly with Penguin, Tetch was not in the current room, so probably in room 3 or 4 and Harleen seemed to have fallen asleep on the chair.

Back in room 2, he searched for some gastric acid contained in a bottle, he combined the pills with the natural chemical and mixed it until it dissolved. Once it was done he put the solution in a long syringe. With a hand on her body he pulled her belly button up and pressing hard he inserted the needle deep inside of it, pointing up to her stomach in order to spread the mixture there. How disgustingly clever of him, no one ever looks into belly buttons.

That is when the man behind the screen understood that Joker was not the one behind the perfect crime scenes, he was beyond that, with him in charge of a case, there was no crime scene. The camera started moving in an unusual way until it pointed to the pale man's face, he was holding them toward himself.

Joker: Hello there! Don't be mad, baby. Trust me, those people knew the risks.

The vigilante grabbed his head in between his hands overly disappointed with his partner's stupid idea of talking to him.

Joker: I think they're trying to kill me, kill me with boredom.

He chuckled while placing the glasses back on his face to Bruce's relief. He went to one of the body, this one had some scarf covering his head. He took it off in one quick motion and started laughing upon seeing the cadaver's face. The skin and skull were ripped open with what seemed to be mushrooms growing out of his brain. He ran his fingers on them, they seemed solids. He broke a piece of one and placed it in his pocket just in time before the door opened. He did not even look toward it before he began speaking.

Joker: I thought you were asleep.

Harley: I was.

Joker: I'm busy.

Harley: I'm just here to keep an eye on ya.

He finally turned to her and motioned with a hand to get closer to him, which she did.

Joker: Look at his head.

She laughed.

Harley: I kinda wanna eat one.

Joker: Do it, I dare you.

The woman took a mushroom, breaking it off of the brain and placed it in her mouth. She started chewing slowly and frowned. He patted her head while giggling.

Joker: Look at you, eating all your vegetables like a good girl.

Harley: Mushrooms aren't plants.

Joker: Than what's a plant?

Harley: Red... Eh... Flowers, trees...

Joker: Where's the plant?

Harley: I don't know. Don't bring her up...

Joker: So, she just left you?

Harley: Stop it.

Joker: She gave up on you, didn't she? She left without you. She abandoned...

Harley: She fled from me.

Joker: Harley! What did you do?!

She stepped back, remaining silent as she probably knew he was playing her. He stepped forward and he went on grabbing her hand to pull her toward himself.

Joker: Show me what you did to her...

Harley: I-I might...

Joker: Do you realize, Harley, the chance we're having right now? We're about to take over Gotham. Now, that won't get done without any losses, but you know, we know we'll be standing after all the fighting.

She was looking directly into his eyes with admiration and so much love it was brutal for the dark knight to acknowledge he was the one who encouraged his partner to manipulate her.

Joker: You're a warrior, Harley, you're that knight in a shining armor that will always be at my side, always. Now Ivy's gone, she left because she could not stand to see how strong you can be, she could not stand seeing how powerful I made you to be.

Harley: I can be strong by my...

Joker: Of course, of course, but sometimes a person needs a little push. I give the push, she catches you, now she's gone, you're hurt, yet standing. Aren't you feeling it, Harley?

Harley: I never needed her...?

Joker: Never. We won't need them either.

Harley: You want us to betray them?

Joker: Think about it baby, we'll be ruling this city together, like Gods.

The speech he was giving her, those words echoed in the vigilante's mind now crumbling under the bittersweet feeling he thought was long gone. The lunatic was talking to Harleen the same way he was to him. He had this sinking feeling in his rib cage and could not bring himself to admit that these feelings were not brought up by stress or even fear of betrayal from his partner.

Joker: Harley?

Harley: I really don't... After everything I'll be ruling Gotham wit-with...

Joker: Don't try to lie, you can't.

Harley: I'm not even human.

He let go of her hand and stepped back chuckling. The shocked hero was trying to figure out what this meant.

Joker: What? You're not... Oh dear!

Suddenly, he punched her in the face sending her against the shelves. She quickly bounced back at him who tried kicking her, but she grabbed his leg making him fall into the door that opened under impact. Miraculously, the glasses had not fell off of his face, he rolled to his back looking toward the ceiling. She jumped on top of him, probably with a knee to his stomach since the detective recognized this sound he makes when he loses his breathe. He grabbed her throat, nails sinking into her skin, squeezing as she did not seemed to mind, instead she was more interested in punching his face. The man behind the screen was silently begging for his partner to not snap the woman's neck. The camera started glitching, she must have hit the glasses. She grabbed one of his arm starting to pull him away to breathe, her nails carving into his skin like he was made of paper. Then, one of her punch sent the camera across the room and Bruce completely lost visual.

He was stuck listening to the pale man screaming, giggling and choking. Making these sounds he makes when he is enjoying it, making the ones he makes when he is searching for air and finally making the one he rarely makes when he wants it to stop.

It lasted around two minutes before the sound started glitching too. He heard Tetch interrupt the fight.

Jervis: - off him, Har - Crane! - uetooth! - Stop it!

Joker: Don't - ind control, really?!

Jervis: Sto-it! The two of y -

Joker: - Clayface!

Harley: I'm not Clay -

Everything shut off after that. Joker had just proposed a plan of betrayal to Quinn before attacking her, his life was now hanging on her decision of exposing him or not to the others. The vigilante was hoping for her to not feel too vengeful toward the clown, for they would surely kill him if they knew.

He waited for his partner to contact him, but after three peaceful hours he started worrying. There must have been a reason for the jester to not be bothering him. He decided to call his number, after all he still was his boss.

He stayed calm, looking emotionless even though anxiety was torturing him for the number was no longer in service.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note**

Just want to show you a song.

Run DMC - My Adidas

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Time was a torture for the hero who could not directly head to the lab as Bruce Wayne, he had to wait for night time to come and get there as Batman. Until then, he headed back to the Batcave where he handed the next suit design to Alfred since he did not have time to build it himself. While the detective went on to study the Reds a little more, waiting for the sunset, the butler obliged, but not without beginning a conversation.

"Of all the people who could have helped you, sir, why him?"

"He didn't gave me a choice." The young man lied.

"What is he threatening you with? Surely, you can find a better way of handling this case than putting your trust into him."

"His threats are meaningless, Alfred, I'm the one using him. He really does have information this ti..."

"I thought you didn't had a choice, Master Wayne." The larger man stood silent realizing his dumb mistake. "Now I might not know what really is going on, but I do know two things for sure. First, information coming from the Joker are never what they seem, so it is utterly useless of you to keep him around and free."

"What is the second thing you know?"

"You will disagree with me on what I have just said and proceed on this case the way you please."

Bruce smirked at his friend.

"Don't worry, I have this under control."

The butler stared back with an unconvinced look on his face. The dark knight knew that the madman had been taking all of his time, leaving him to keep Alfred in obscurity for this investigation. He was making him so worried, yet he could never bring himself to expose what was really going on. To explain how he made a terrible mistake with Joker long ago, how the city was to soon crumble, how he needed him for now and what he truly was feeli...

-MAH AAADIDAS walked through concert doors and roamed all over coliseum floors!

The older man's cellphone rang loudly in the cave, he glanced at it.

"It's your aunt, Agatha." He picked up. "Hello."

"I'm not here." The hero whispered.

21:02 PM, he broke into the laboratory, no one was there. In the main room, he found some traces of the clown's blood, but not enough to have a lead. He continued scrutinizing the place and the most illegal thing he found was a small quantity of LSD, probably unrelated to the case.

There was nothing in room 2 beside a few chemicals, the bodies and files were gone without a trace.

Room 3 was some kind of medical room with all the equipment necessary to do most kind of procedure. An uncanny thing was a large number of Bluetooth in a cabinet, but they did not seemed to be connected to anything.

The detective entered room 4, it was big, dark, had a restraining chair in the middle of it and a few screens around it, then again, connected to nothing. There seemed to be a lot of equipment to perform surgeries, a lot of tools and some teaser guns. This must have been a torture room, possibly used for interrogations. He did not have to search for long before he fond traces of blood all over the chair. Some stains seemed fresh as if it was from only a few hours ago. Analyzing it, Batman was surprised to find out that all this sanguine fluid was linked to only one individual, Harleen. His theory was that they tested her loyalty after Joker offered her to betray them.

He got back to the main room where he started going through the files on the computer Crane had been using earlier. The most interesting thing he found was the official Arkham files on patients Kirk Langstrom : The Manbat, Basil Karlo : Clayface and Pamela Lillian Isley : Poison Ivy. A note was added to the woman's files, it consisted of information about the mycellium mushroom and how it can have a very powerful connection to almost any type of plant life.

The vigilante contacted GCPD requesting them to investigate the laboratory for the LSD, torture room and stolen Arkham files. He also demanded of them to contact him immediately if they were to come across Oswald Cobblepot, Harleen Quinzel, Edward Nygma, Jonathan Crane and Jervis Tetch, but not Jackson White for he did not want anybody to make the connection of him being the clown prince of crime.

22:38 PM, the dark knight is knocking on a kitchen window without expecting anyone to answer to it as both Quinn and Tetch were probably still somewhere with the rest of the gang. He easily broke into the apartment and started cautiously investigating each rooms.

Nothing could give him any clues of where they could have been or what their next move would be. However, he spent a little extra time in the woman's bedroom for he was shocked to find such a sinister décor. Wholes, cracks and old blood stains were covering the walls, glasses from broken bottles shattered all over the floor and there was not much left of any furniture, only her bed seemed to be standing fine. He analyzed the stains and traced the DNA to be matching hers, Crane's and Jervis's. The detective could not come up with any theory of why they had fought.

23:42 PM, he is now searching through Jonathan's apartment for any clue, craving for a lead, wishing for something to be beyond out of place and odd. Exactly like the previous places, he found absolutely nothing.

He was about to exit when he heard the front door being unlocked and the knob turning. The hero hid in the darkness a corner of the living room was offering him. He had not made his mind up about leaving immediately or staying to interrogate Crane. He watched as the other man entered the place alone and went on sitting down on a couch next to him without switching any lights on. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before calmly speaking.

"Were you planning on jump-scaring me?" The vigilante stepped out of his miserable hiding place kind of surprised. "Shadows cannot cover odors."

True, his suit must have smelled a lot like the streets and in a closed room that was not very subtle.

"You, Nygma, Tetch and Quinzel have been spending a lot of time in a certain laboratory..."

"Why are you coming to me for information?" Jonathan quickly interrupted him. "Don't you know Edward owns this lab?"

"Where is he?"

"Who knows? Last time I checked an apartment with his name linked to it the place was completely empty. I guess it's some sort of cover up." He stood up and scratched his head. "He always was somewhat paranoiac."

The insane psychiatrist headed to his kitchen where he got himself a glass of water. Batman knew he was telling the truth about Nygma, he always lived in a hidden place even he had not found yet. Although Crane was being honest so far, he still was not pleased to find out that the man who was quite literally under Penguin's wing now was the owner of this place, shutting down the lab was going to be a mission of its own.

"I find the deaths of many of the test subjects to be very suspicious."

"I'm not the one confirming those, take it with a man named Jackson White. Would you need me to give you his address?"

He was beyond comfortable with the interrogation. The thin man took out a pot and a box of uncooked pastas and started making his supper not annoyed at all of the vigilante's presence. This was strange.

"What about the LSD?"

"We've been using it only for researches purpose, which is a thing that had been legalized during the month of October." He turned to the dark knight with a smirk. "Don't you keep up with the law, Batman? A lot has changed recently."

"How do you know Jackson White?"

"He is Doctor Quinzel's cousin."

"Speaking of her." He approached Jonathan making sure he could see all of his slightest reactions to the question. "You've had quite a fight with her and Tetch."

"Indeed we did." He replied with a light chuckle while the hero stood immobile awaiting explanations. "Some people really can't handle alcohol, she's one of them. Jervis and I barely remember why she went berserk that night." An awkward silence filled the room after what seemed to have been an incomplete statement. "There really is nothing more to it."

"You expect me to believe this?" He responded harshly.

"Well you can always head to her place and have a few drinks with her." He mocked the caped crusader while stirring his food. "Why are you here?"

"Why won't you be honest? You know where this could lead."

"Are we already at the part were you simply beat a confession out of me?" He turned to the hero who was shocked upon hearing those words again. "You can torture me all you want Batman, but you won't be satisfied for I still don't know what confession you are expecting me to give." Crane took a step toward him staring into his eyes. "Why are you here?"

"I know about the Reds."

Jonathan joined his wrists together presenting his hands the the armored man.

"Arrest me." The surprised detective did not make any move believing this to be some kind of trap for this was too easy. "Arrest me and all the others for it was wrong of us to use illegal drugs, even if it meant curing our illnesses and living better lives."

"You aren't cured!" He growled.

"The psychiatrists will be the judges of that, once more."

"Harleen seems to be very violent for a sane person."

"Shall we send everyone who once lost control under the influence of alcohol to the Asylum?"

Batman knew he could not take Crane back to Arkham for they would release him and furthermore maybe legalize the Reds.

"Who created the Reds?"

"I sincerely wish I knew."

The hero started walking toward a large window as he decided to leave without arresting him. He could figure out who made this drug by himself.

"Thank you." He said as he moved his hand to take the pot away from the stove and followed the other man. "I will be honest in a way I should never be with you." The dark knight stopped wondering what he meant. "I've seen many emotions go through your face, but never have I seen this one so clearly. You almost make me miss my illness, for as Scarecrow I would have loved to see you as sad and desperate as you are today." He opened the window angrily without looking back. "They told me you were missing him, but I never believed it."

"Missing who?" He asked in a low voice already knowing the answer.

"The Joker."

He spent the rest of the night searching through the city, unable to find any one else from the gang. He went to Arkham and informed them of the stolen files to which the employees almost did not reacted to. One of them even went as far as stating that since these three patients had gone missing for so long the files were no longer relevant and therefore worthless. The caped crusader could not believe how idiotic the asylum staff was in regard of the situation. The odd behavior of the workers really was confusing, but mostly alarming for they could very well all be parts of the gang. He asked about the Reds and they had a similar answer to the one Jonathan had given, it was a cure. They already were working on legalizing the stuff.

He finally tried his partner's apartment. It was as he remembered, he confiscated the gun and went on trying each and every of his electronic devices and noticed that the tablet he had used once to connect to his glasses was missing. Although, one of the gadgets seemed to be truly his and not just a piece of something lying around, it was a small and old laptop. He wondered how the man could have kept it around between prison and asylum's breaks and lockups. Most of the things were very well hidden with passwords, lockers, overall basic but efficient coding that the detective managed to bypass. He did not had a lot of written files, most of them being names and addresses that were no longer accurate. Most of them were no longer accurate due to the homeowner or family being murdered however. That was a strangely organized way of committing homicides for the pale man, but the list was short. The hero thought that it probably was a too boring way of doing it for the clown and he moved on from this methodized way.

The photo folder was the one containing the most files. The vigilante was hoping to find some recent info, maybe some ideas to were he could be held or in the worse scenario possible, where his body might have been. To his surprised all he found was somewhat memories, he really was not picturing the lunatic to be this kind of emotional type. Most of the pictures seemed to have been taken from other cameras, sometimes with amazing resolutions, sometimes horrible and some old pictures were imported from scanners.

About half of them were photography of him, Batman. He was looking at himself through the madman's eyes. From to ground, positioning his camera toward the sky to catch glimpses of the dark knight moving through the night. Some were truly disturbing for they were taken from so close it was uncomfortable for him to realize how near the man could actually get without being noticed.

Some scans from his first crimes were there, probably trophies he took as a beginner.

A lot of pictures were hideous jokes he had set up by posing corpses in disgusting and embarrassing manners. A priest and children in a sexual situation, movie references with the bodies wearing costumes and make up, a classic school picture with the exception of everyone being headless, the entire reenacting of a wedding and honeymoon with only one of the lover being alive and it went on with more distasteful comical photos.

The night ended with him being clueless. He told his coworkers that Jackson's absence was due to the passing of his grandmother and that he allowed him time off.

The second night went in a similar fashion as the first one. He found Jonathan to be at his place, doing seemingly nothing illegal. He could not find Cobblepot nor Nygma. He headed to Harleen's place but no one was home. He went back to Arkham and the staff was equally weird. He searched isolated places of Gotham, went back to the lab, to the cabin, to Joker's place, the Iceberg Lounge, the bunker and the lake. The lake, he scrutinized it from bottom to top. He did not find his body, but instead an old trace of him. The leather that used to hold this object together had broken off due to the water ruining it, but the main part was almost intact. This time, the hero kept the useless item.

A few nights later he finally got in contact with Jervis. He rushed into the apartment when he opened the kitchen window.

"Where have you been?! Where's Harleen?!" He held Tetch against a wall.

"I was in Star City with her, most people don't know us that well there and we can walk around at daylight with less people shouting insults at us." He quickly said and the hero kept his firm grip on him. "It's not the first time we visit another city together, why is this so important now?"

"Where did you sleep?"

"A hotel, like anyone would. Do you want to see the receipt?"

He let go of him slowly and the small man went on sitting at the table.

"What were you doing in Star City?"

"Not much. I accompanied her while she shopped, we went to a few restaurants and bars, saw a movie... We really just had a good time."

He seemed to be honest and that would all be really easy things to check.

"Where is she now?"

"Probably at a bar. I don't really know, we got home today and I was a little tired, which she wasn't at all, like usual and she decided to go out by herself."

"Will she be back later?"

"I doubt it, last time she went out by herself it took three days before she called. She was stuck in Central City without a penny, I had to go get her."

"Tell me about the fight you had with her and Crane."

"She drank and like I just explained to you, she's not the best at handling alcohol." The detective started heading to his exit through the window while he heard Jervis addressed him. "I know you found out about the Reds and are against it." He turned to the small man, listening closely. "I'm not telling you what to do, I just want to give you an advice. You're on the wrong side of a fight that isn't happening. The drugs might not have been legal back then, but it's working and that's what's important. Take it from me, obsessing over something that isn't real is no way to live and you've been seeing a problem where there has been none for quite some times now..."

"Who created the Reds?" He interrupted him uninterested, yet disturbed by his opinion.

"I don't know."

This was overall good news for Bruce, all he had to do was pay attention to the police radio for any call for a drunken woman that needed to be controlled or any type of massive disturbance in the night. If there was someone who knew what had happened to Joker, it was her. Unfortunately, nothing came up and the disappointed hero theorized that maybe she had left to party in another city.

November 28th, 8:03 AM, Bruce is entering his office, beyond sleep deprived from the days he had just spent investigating and seeking answers through Gotham, all for nothing. He sat down at his desk and noticed he had a new voice mail on his work phone. He entered his password to listen to it. The message started off with a man sickly clearing out his throat and the voice of a woman vaguely came through from the background. She was laughing while speaking and the only word he could made out was gross. Then the man started speaking, Bruce's heart began racing upon hearing his voice. "Bru-Brucie? 'was just wondering if you could pick me up tomorrow and ehm... Would you be so kind and take me to a restaurant? All right... Love yoouu..."

He was not quite sounding right, but it was him, he was alive and furthermore he was at home. The billionaire did not waste any time rushing to his car and expeditiously drove to the pale man's apartment.

He knocked frenetically at the door and was left speechless from the sight of the man opening it. No glasses, no shirt, wearing jeans and shoes, scratched and bruised up all over from his fight with Harleen.

"I ain't deaf, you know?"

He walked away nonchalantly almost as if he was disturbed by the larger man's presence. He stepped into the place surprised of how worse it had gotten since last time. The smell of puke was overwhelming, plus the floors where covered with shattered glass and blood.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"What happened?" He sarcastically asked while turning around with his large smile. "I partied that's what!"

The smaller man pushed a few boxes of pizza and plastic bags revealing Quinzel lying on the floor, pants less and holing on to a jug of bleach. He lowered himself toward her and grabbed her face.

"Wakey wakey, we've got company." He softly said.

"The popo!?" She quickly awoke panicked and grabbing his arm.

"No, Bruce."

She sighed relieved and lied back down before looking at the jug of bleach, throwing it across the room and beginning whining.

"Miss Quinzel, are you all right?" The billionaire asked.

"I've been through worse..."

"No you haven't." The clown mocked while he started searching for something in the fridge.

"What d'ya mean?"

"You broke the record. You drank two whole jugs!" He turned around holding his bottle of lemonade. "Are you in pain?"

"Yeah..." She rolled on her back while holding her belly. "But alive, so I won..."

"No you don't!" He approached her. "You're not poison proof if you're in pain! You're poison resistant."

"It's the same thing."

"No it's not! You owe me."

Bruce stepped closer to the two in order to take place in this uncanny conversation.

"Jackson is right actually, poison proof would mean that there is absolutely no effects while poison resistant means that the effects are minor." He turned to the man drinking lemonade and added. "What kind of bet is this? You risked her life for how much?"

"For my black hoodie..." She whimpered while trying to get up. "Oh crap... Where are my pants?"

The pale man avoided answering the hero and walked away into his room. Harleen was holding on to the counter and resting her head against a cabinet.

"Strange relationship you have with your cousin." The larger man said.

"We're great friends, y'know? And like many... oh God..." She stopped and cleared her throat. "Thought I was gonna puke. Like many friends we sometime have stupid ideas... This was one of them."

She walked passed the tall man and started searching through the apartment calling for her pants like one would call a pet. He went on joining his partner in the bedroom, he was picking up empty bottles from the floor and throwing them out the window. He swiftly grabbed his arm.

"Hey! You could hurt someone!" Joker simply turned to him with an extremely blasé expression on his face. "Could you please not make this difficult?"

The woman entered the room and abruptly stopped upon seeing the billionaire holding the madman's arm.

"Am I interrupting something?"

The slender man smiled to her.

"Clean up the place." He asked and she stood there. "Please, Harley?"

"Where are my pants?"

"You lost them at the casino two days ago, remember?"

She looked down thoughtful for a moment and suddenly brought her hands to her face and regretfully sighed. She started picking up bottles off the floor. Bruce helped her while White got out of the room to seemingly do nothing.

"What size suits you?" He asked.

"What?"

"I can go and buy you some jeans."

She smiled to him.

"It's okay, ya don't have to."

Joker entered the room and requested the girl's hoodie, which she joylessly gave to him. Now all she had was shoes, panties, a red t-shirt and an excruciating hangover. Bruce got up and left the apartment disappointed.

Less than a hour later he came back and immediately noticed the door mat the clown had made out of the black hoodie he won from Harleen. She opened and he entered the now clean apartment while avoiding stepping on it. He handed her a bag containing jeans and a winter coat.

She put the clothes on, it all fitted. She went on hugging him, he did too. It felt strange for him to be holding an enemy in his arms, but what was even more funny was that she did not knew that the man she was holding was Batman, her worst enemy. She proceeded to leave and stepped on her beloved piece of clothing, upon looking down she yelled.

"For real!?" Followed by a soft whisper. "Fuck you."

The door closed and the he turned to the chuckling man behind him. He rushed toward him and pushed him hard against the wall closing the space between them, his face inches from his.

"I thought you were dead! You never called, not even once!" He screamed at him.

"No touching, darling." He arrogantly purred.

"I searched the entire city looking for you! I haven't slept for days!" He let go of him and stepped back. "And you, you spent all this time partying with her! Not caring about anything in the world!"

"You're exaggerating."

"Exaggerating?!" He started searching through his jacket's pockets. "You think I'm exaggerating?" He handed the red ball to his partner. "I looked everywhere for you..."

The jester's eyes widened upon seeing the gift, he took it and inspected it with his mouth slightly open, completely shocked. He seemed almost emotional over the situation. He then smirked and locked his green eyes to Bruce's.

"How unproductive of you." That triggered the vigilante who started rushing toward the other man who ran to his bedroom screaming. "No touching! No Touc..."

He was interrupted by the larger man grabbing him and pushing him on the bed, getting on top of him to hold him down firmly. He started shouting angrily.

"I thought you were dead! I've lost so much time because of you! You should've called me! Why didn't you call me!?" He was violently shaking the smaller man under him while ranting about the past few days.

"I'm here now, I'm alive." He replied in between the yelling of the other man. "It's okay, baby." The hero stopped for a moment allowing the pale man to speak up. "I've got good news, but you have to stop touching me." The man simply rolled on the bed and stayed lying down beside the clown. "I've stolen the piece of detonator for Nygma's head from Harley, it's in her pants hidden in the kitchen." He said laughing. "We're going to steal the other pieces and set him free, it'll ruin their plan. Also I still have this piece of mushroom you should analyze, plus I know who the first person to have sneaked in the Reds is."

"You do?"

"Ivy placed them there long before leaving Gotham, that's why Harley took them after, so she wouldn't get caught. She was supposed to take them, get her freedom and join Flower-girl somewhere away from the city, but she failed." He chuckled. "She started telling other people about it, because she wanted all of her friends to leave with her and well, Ivy got mad and totally disappeared."

"Wait, that means Harley would be the creator of this whole gang?"

"Well this faction anyway. Still don't know who created the drug, tho."

"How did you find this out?"

"I've been spending the last days with a completely wasted Harley here! I've learned many secrets!" He got off the bed and turned to the tired hero. "Now, how about you get some sleep before we start robbing my dear companions?"

"Here?" Bruce asked with distrust. "I'm not sleeping with you here."

In response to this, the pale man sighed and got a baseball bat out of his closet. The detective got up believing this to be a threat, but he dropped it down and kicked it toward the bed.

"That outta keep the nightmares and monsters away."

He giggled while the larger man took the weapon and lied back down, firmly holding on to it. He went to exit to room, but before doing so he stopped and in almost a whisper addressed the man lying in his bed.

"Sweet dreams, mon chéri."

The hero stood down, the bat in hand on top of him, he had his head turned toward the passage out of the room. He really needed some sleep, but doing so in this crummy apartment was putting his life at risk. He kept staring in the distance and listening to the sound of the other man speaking alone, laughing, shouting to the neighbor, becoming some sort of normal ambiance to him. Getting glimpses of the lunatic, walking, dancing, running and jumping around the place, taking phone calls, eating, naturally living in front of him. The view of his partner moving around became gracefully vague as he dozed off into a deep sleep.

It had gotten dark outside and he was wondering how many hours he had spent sleeping. He still was drained, but he woke up anyway. At first he could not figure what was disturbing him, but then it became clear. It was silence.

He got up and quietly started walking around the place, some light was coming from the living room.

"Joker?"

"I'm still here."

He responded from the dim lighted room, in a soft almost muted voice. Bruce entered the room and found the madman sitting tightly in a corner, holding on to his laptop, staring at the screen.

"Are you all right?" He received no answer and went on sitting next to him. "What's wrong?"

"Changes of plan, Batsy." He closed the computer filling the entire place in almost complete darkness. "You're coming to work with me..."

"I'm not going to cover up some murders." He harshly replied to the clown who surprisingly stood silent for a moment.

"Me neither, we're going to solve this one." He said and his voice cracked for a second. "Trust me, you won't be committing a crime."

"What's going on?"

"Start dressing up, cover your face so people won't recognize you."

"Will you tell me what this is all about?"

The jester got up and opened a light, blinding them both for an instant during which he simply said.

"Eddie died."

The hero was shocked, but he knew that the best thing to do was not to ask any questions. He believed his partner immediately on this one and started dressing up with the pale man waiting impatiently next to him. The caped crusader always thought he would have loved to see Joker speechless, but has it turned out, he hated it.

They headed out and he started following the small man unsure of if he really knew Nygma's location. During the whole route, the madman would sometime mumble incomprehensible things to himself without really starting any conversation or stating something clear.

After the long unpleasant walk, the two men arrived to a small, ugly but normal house.

"How come no one could ever find him?" Bruce could not resist asking.

"The house was a gift from a friend of mine. Carl Hergert was his name, I think..."

The larger man rolled his eyes and followed his partner to the back of the house where they easily took a window out of its framed and entered. This really was a small house with all the rooms connected and very open.

There he was, in front of his customized computer, sitting with his head falling backward against the chair, his eyes wide open. There was no trace of violence anywhere. While the detective started searching clues through the house, the jester approached the body, took Edward's head in his hands and addressed him.

"What the hell happened to you? Was it Pumpkin-head? Penguin? Was it your own fault?" He rudely pushed the head away and turned around angry. "Oh, now you don't feel like talking."

"You can figure it out without his help." The larger man encouraged his partner, coming back to him holding on to a Reds and a pile of plans unrelated to the case, but still better in his hands than others. "This place is a goldmine of information."

"Start loading the car with everything you find." The lunatic ordered.

"What car?"

"Well, his!" He shouted annoyed. "It's not like he's gonna need it!"

Joker's attitude was making Bruce irritated, yet he felt the best thing he could do this time was obey. He picked up a lot of plan and placed his computer in the car, then things started getting a little more complicated. They noticed some different spot on the walls, ceiling and floor, surely hiding something. Upon further investigation they found out they were custom made saves and opening them was beyond complicated. Riddles, passwords, puzzles, all kind of security method were used for each one. They decided it was better for Batman to come back later with his gadgets in order to open the ones they would not be able to do at the moment.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have been the case with each of almost every one of these mysteriously locked boxes. When entering the bedroom to look for more of these, they immediately spotted the difference this time. In red, written on a white wall was: 1G. The pale man touched the writing and stated.

"That's lipstick." He licked his fingers. "That's my lipstick."

"This must be for you." The two men looked at each other, the madman was utterly confused. "Joker, what could 1G mean between you and Nygma?"

He stopped and turned his attention to the message on the wall, thoughtful. After a moment of silence he spoke up.

"In chess, that's the initial position of the second white knight. 1G is the second white knight."

The piece of wall which contained the marking slid down as a panel hiding a second message: Be honest. The clown chuckled but still stared at his partner completely perplexed.

"I think it's a combination of a voice recognition system with a password. So far it respond to yours, keep going."

The detective informed the smaller man who turned back to the message.

"Checkmate?"

The jester asked unsure and they waited, but nothing happened. He kept his eyes on the short message from Nygma: Be honest. He frowned and grumbled.

"I lost."

It opened and revealed another container, sliding of the wall like one at the morgue and there it was, under a short note saying: Trust no one.

The Champion suit was now in Joker's possession.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

5:00 AM, it had taken Bruce quite the fight to convince Joker that he had to take back Nygma's body to the Batcave without him in order to perform the autopsy. It goes without saying, that the detective was not looking forward contacting his partner to let him know that his postmortem examinations were all inconclusive. He decided to move on to the boxes and computer.

Overall he found out that Riddler had been in control for quite a while now of the security system in Arkham, using small customized gadgets for simple tasks such as stopping the cameras and electricity and using bigger or his computer for more complex ones, like modifying footage's contents. That would explain the break outs, the sneaking in of the drugs and everything related to such events.

A lot of other things pointed toward him being the creator of the clown's glasses and other items. This could mean that other members of the gang were in possession of such equipment.

He theorized that his death must have been accidental for he could not see why the gang would have had gotten rid of such a talented and useful person. He did left the note _Trust no one_ to the pale man, but he never acted out as a traitor either. He was hoping to be right because if he was not, than that would surely mean that Harleen and Joker would have been next. After all, they did not seemed as useful as Nygma and were to two most likely to betray the rest of the gang.

His investigation was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. An unknown number that did not seemed to be from the region was requesting a video call. The hero placed his hand over his camera in order to hide his cave and identity and answered with curiosity.

Bruce: Hello?

The caller appeared on the screen, a gray hoodie covering his hair, goggles on his eyes with white piercing lenses and his mouth covered by some tight gas mask that was also serving as a voice modifier.

Champion: Don't be shy, Batsy.

He demanded with a voice that sounded like it could only be straight up from hell. Distorted, yet very understandable, low and rusty while echoing of his natural high pitched tone, it sounded very loud while seemingly distant. The dark knight had to give it to the creator, he had nailed down the intimidating factors on his Champion suit.

Bruce: I'm in the Batcave, I'd prefer not showing it to you.

Champion: Now or later, what's the difference? I can see everything.

Bruce: Why are you calling me?

Champion: Everything is easier with this suit... Look!

He raised his left arm in front of the camera, his left glove was equipped with something similar to what Scarecrow had, only his needles were retractable and connected to more than one serum. One of them was a mix of a toned down version of the fear toxin and truth serum, perfect for interrogations, another one was some Devil's breath which he could simply spray to one's face making the person lose all senses and forget the events. He also had a few anti-poison and cures, but his equipment was not the scary part in this case, rather the detonator he was holding in his hand.

Champion: It went a lot faster than I thought it would. So, how about you invite me in for this little autopsy?

Bruce: Don't be unreasonable, Joker! If you press this button you'll kill me!

He laughed.

Champion: Trust me, it takes a lot more than a small explosion to kill you.

Bruce: I'm not wearing my armor and I'm not done with the autopsy, you'll ruin his body!

Champion: Let me in.

The larger man stared at his screen, the dangerous man awaiting for an answer, detonator in hand. However, the pale man was right.

Bruce: No.

It takes a lot more than a small explosion to kill him.

Champion: Take cover.

He pressed the button and nothing happened. So he went on frenetically pressing it again and again.

Champion: You disarmed...

Bruce: I didn't. Joker they're...

Champion: They're playing me!

He hung up to the hero's face before he could even reply that maybe Nygma was the one who disarmed it. He decided to run an entire scan of the man's head and knowing it would take a few hours for the computer to register all the information he went to sleep. It was a Saturday, so he could simply wake up early and continue later.

9:12 AM, he was heading to the cave. He was shocked to find out nothing, absolutely nothing. Edward's body had been stolen. He decided not to inform Alfred that the madman had successfully infiltrated the Batcave without any security going off.

With no time to spare, he started looking through the images his cameras had picked up.

It was ridiculous, the way he easily broke into the manor once more, snooped around with his goggle probably seeing through things, found the entrance, hacked the mechanism with something connected to his right arm and walked into the cave to retrieve the man's body which he simply put into a sport bag and left.

He could not leave as Batman at this hour of the day and he knew it. He asked Alfred without giving him any details to contact him if someone spotted Jackson White any where in the city. He left in a car and headed to his partner's place.

He arrived and knocked repeatedly, to no answers. He shouted for him to come out and a door opened, the neighbor's.

"What is it with you people and screaming!? It's Saturday morning, for fuck sake!" She complained.

"My apologies." He quickly answered and stepped toward her. "Would you know where Mr. White happens to be?"

"Doesn't a man of your status have better things to do?" She questioned.

"He's my employee."

"Your employee?!" She replied surprised and started laughing.

"What? He might not be the greatest person on Earth, but he's a talented scientist."

"No it's not that! I thought you two..." She had a last chuckle. "I thought you were gay."

"Why would you think that?"

"Well that night I caught you two role-playing, you were wearing that Batman costume and he wanted to get spanked... y'know?" The woman explained suppressing her giggles. "Look, I ain't judging you, I'm just sayin'..."

"I just want to know where he might be." He interrupted her before rapidly adding. "And we're not gay."

"I see him by the lake sometime." The billionaire nodded and started walking away, but she continued addressing him. "Don't worry, it's okay to be gay. Plus, as much as I hate him, I can't deny he's one handsome fella. Hmm! Those lips, imma right, Bruce!?"

He ignored her as best as he could and got to his car.

He had searched him the entire day without any success, it was going to be night time soon and he was going to get into his suit and look for him as Batman, which should give him a great advantage.

He was in the cave, alone. He glanced at the two Reds he had and the incomplete ingredient list. The detective could not help himself from continually reflecting about the last year, how so many of his enemies were successfully fleeing or staying under a new created faultless facade. He had lost his edge.

He took a sip out of a water bottle he had on a desk near him, swallowing with it a red pill. He sat down and took a look at the time, 20:55 PM, he was going to calculate how much time it took for these things to work. A mix of shame and guilt were filling his mind, but he knew he needed to take the risk in order to understand better.

21:08 PM, still no effect. His phone began ringing for a video call with the number he now knew to be Joker's. He didn't hide this time, just like his partner who was not wearing the goggles nor mask.

Joker: Why, hello handsome!

Bruce: Where's the body?

Joker: In my bathtub, you should come and take a look.

Bruce: Were have you been?

Joker: At your tower and don't worry, I've already change all the surveillance footage.

The larger rolled his eyes while he sighed.

Joker: Wow! Do me a favor and don't bring that attitude to my place, all right? See you later!

He hung up and the hero headed to one of his expensive car to get to his ally's place.

The shame, guilt and pressure he was feeling earlier started to slowly vanish during the car ride and that's how he knew that the Reds were kicking in. He glanced at the time, 21:22 PM, that was quick. So far, all he felt was a thousand time more relaxed. He did not feel as if anybody else actions were directly his fault, he did not feel as angry and did not feel entirely responsible for this city's fate. He had to remind himself that these emotions were nothing more than drug induced lies. He had to keep in mind that he is Batman, Gotham's sworn vigilante.

He arrived and rapidly followed the pale man to the bathroom. The walls were covered with blood smudges and in the tub with ice, just as he mentioned earlier, was Nygma. His head was shaved and skull cracked open, skin pulled back by elastic bands attached to hooks, the whole thing exposing his brain. His belly was open as well, with the liver completely out of him and stomach sliced. All the other organs were tossed to expose the spine, now broken, inside. It was one hell of an ugly sight and the smell was not making it any easier.

"You should've let me do it." The larger man complained with his hand covering his nose and mouth. "This is sloppy, you ruined it."

"Did not." He replied amused by the man's disgust. "Look closer. Look at his brain and spine."

He obliged and approached the cadaver, starting with his head noticing some small yellowish strings poking out of the gray matter. He did not knew what this was, but it shared similarities with the mushrooms his partner had found in the test subject back at the lab. He directed his attention to the middle of the body. It took some times for him to spot what looked like cotton sticking out of the spine and attaching itself to muscles and blood vessels.

"What's all this?" The hero stepped back.

"Mushrooms." He pointed to the dead man's head. "This is cordyceps, a parasitic fungi that grows on the host's brain in order to control it." He moved his finger to the belly. "And this is mycellium, it can be used by plants as some network transporting nutriments from one plant to another."

"How is this even growing in his body?"

"And in the stomach..." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat ignoring Bruce's question. "The stomach, I found some digested herbs. I don't know how the mushrooms got there, all I know is she overfed them until the brain kind of suffocated trapped into shroom's growth."

"She?" He asked while exiting the repulsive room with the madman following. "You think Ivy did this?"

"Ivy? No!" He answered mocking the detective's deduction. "Ivy makes no mistake when it comes to wildlife. That!" He pointed toward the bathroom, anger rising in his eyes. "That's Harley!"

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

"Sure it does. She operated him, plus the plan was probably that instead of a bomb, they implanted this fungi as a slow acting weapon, killing him without breaking any deal with Penguin." He headed to a cabinet where he started getting a few bottles of chemicals out, turned away from the hero. "I would never have allowed them! And they knew it! She knew it!"

"Changing from a bomb to a fungi makes sense, but I don't think she's the one who did it."

"Why not?!" Joker replied harshly. "After all the time she spent with Weed-Lady, she probably learned a thing or two!" He shouted while stirring a new made solution with a fork.

"Tetch possessed a lot more knowledge about the human brain than any one else in the gang, surely he's the one who processed with the operation."

"They're all guilty... They wasted something great." He placed his hands on the counters and growl lowly. "Something that could've been excellent, I would've..."

Without thinking, the larger man interrupted the pale man as he arrived from behind and caressed his back, grabbing one of his shoulder.

"It's okay, we'll get them."

The clown abruptly got stiff, before he started chuckling, a chuckle that grew into a full blown laughter. He turned to the hero pushing his hand away.

"No touching, baby." He said with arrogance before adding. "You took one."

"I had to try..."

"So you finally admit to be insane?"

"No, I'm just trying it." He responded with frustration. "It does almost nothing to me."

"I can see that." The jester answered with a smirk. "Speaking of seeing, look out the window."

The dark knight cautiously turned to glance outside only to see the Batsignal in the cloud. Without saying anything, he rushed outside. From behind, the smaller man tried to follow, but Bruce was way faster when out of the suit.

"I'm coming with you!" He demanded.

"No!"

"Calm your shit, Jackson!" Yelled out the neighbor.

21:53 PM, he arrived on the roof of the GCPD building where he met with an ordinary cop instead of the commissioner. The police man started explaining the situation.

"A major fight between two gangs is about to take place, we'd normally be able to control the situation but as it turns out they're a lot more dangerous than we thought. They're armed with explosives, RPG, snipers, AK-47, name it, they have it."

"Why didn't you prevent this?"

"We would've, that's why Commissioner Gordon and some men are infiltrating both gangs at this moment, but this is happening suddenly for an unknown reason. They're going to meet in fifteen minutes in a large parking lot to settle this."

"Sounds like a personal problem rather than business going wrong."

The Champion voice interrupted as he stepped out of the shadows frightening the man who was going to point his gun at him, but the dark knight stopped him in mid movement.

"Don't. He's a friend."

"What do you mean by a personal problem?" The cop asked the newest vigilante.

"This is an unorganized fight triggered by irrational anger, probably caused by some drama. Maybe the leader of one gang slept with the other leader's girlfriend and he wants revenge."

"That sounds plausible..."

"Do you have pictures of your coworkers in their disguise?"

Batman asked and the GCPD worker headed to pick up a file from the ground handing it to him.

"Here's all the information you need."

The hero opened it, studying it for less than thirty seconds before handing it back and leaving quickly using his grappling hook and cape to fly through the city.

He glanced behind him noticing a shadowy figure swinging from a building to another, the pale man did not have a cape, instead he used only his grappling hook to swinging himself through the city like Tarzan would using vines in the jungle. The larger man had registered the other man's number and called him while keeping moving forward.

Batman: Why are you here? I said no.

Champion: You're not the boss of me, besides, it'll go faster with my help.

Batman: Go away.

He heard that classic mocking laughter echoing through his cowl.

Batman: Fine, but let's do it my way. We'll take care of securing the roofs of nearby buildings from snipers and RPG and then I'll move to the ground.

Champion: How about...

The vigilante landed on a building near the soon battlefield and a voice from behind him continued the sentence.

"I take care of the ground while you take care of the roof? We're fast enough to do it this way."

"You don't know who the..."

"I could spot a pig from a real criminal with my eyes close! Why do you think they never infiltrated my gang?"

He turned to his new sidekick, eyeing his well made armor. The suit really was focusing more on stealth and agility rather than tank-like protection, a great choice for a man of his frame. Furthermore, instead of a utility belt, his gadgets were directly linked to the suit, making it harder for foes to disarm him.

"Agreed." Batman said.

He closed in, activating his detective vision, spotting five snipers and two RPG. He decided to go with the most destructive first, with one positioned from inside an unlit apartment, pointing the weapon out of the window and the other on top of a closed restaurant. The one in the apartment was not alone, a sniper was in the window next to his. He charged for the RPG, knocking him against the wooden floor taking him out instantly, he then ran into the next room knocking out the sniper with a forceful punch. He moved to the roof where the other criminal was located, attacking him from behind.

Batman: RPG are all down.

Champion: Get ready to work faster.

Before he could ask what this meant, he watched as both gangs, with the infiltrating agents, started arriving in the parking lot, armed to the teeth. In no time he headed for two snipers next to one another and before he could even attacked he heard an exploding noise coming from the ground.

He took out the men while glancing at the parking lot. He was glad to see it getting filled up with smoke, which must have been Joker's move.

The dark knight took care of the remaining snipers, glimpsing from time to time at the battlefield where the pale man was gracefully moving through the violence, confusion and total chaos, taking down most criminals without even scratching the GCPD workers.

Arriving to the ground battle, the smoke had completely faded away and the fight had taking a much more intense pace with the enemies shooting at each other, the two vigilantes crushing them and the police men trying their best to participate without infringing their own code.

When it was all over, the hero approached Commissioner Gordon who was working with his men to take the ones who survived the brutal battle into custody.

"All my men made it out alive, thank you. Who is he?" He asked referring to the Champion.

He would have answered, but he was vigorously pushed by his ally, turning around in wonder he noticed him taking a bullet to his chest. The suit blocked it, but he stepped back from the impact. An incompetent sniper was still hiding in another apartment, surely he must have been late and that is why no one had spotted him. Using his grappling hook, the smaller man headed to the window where, in the dark, he disarmed the man and dragged him further in the shadows.

Using his detective vision he watched as his partner held the man to the ground with his foot on his chest and kept the position. He decided to get closer for this must have been an interrogation. He kept hidden, entering the room next to his, watching through the walls an listening.

"... You Bat-freaks never kill, so why should I talk? I'm not scared of pain, you ain't got shit on me!" The thug mocked the Champion.

"Nothing besides your life." He responded.

"And you won't take it!" He continued, trying to laugh at the dangerous man who was pressing on his chest.

"Well, frankly..." He placed his masked down to his neck and moved his goggles up, revealing his face to the criminal who started shaking. "That's up to you."

"J-J-Joker...?"

"Your life is mine." The victim nodded terrified of the monster standing above him. "Now jump out the window."

"No! Please no..."

"It's the second floor, you'll survive!"

He let go and the man got up, walked toward the window. He turned around looking at the clown once more.

"Land on your feet." He ordered while placing his goggles back.

He jumped and the cracking sounds of his legs was followed by painful screams. The hero was uncomfortably impressed by Joker's intimidation techniques. He joined him in the dark room. The pale man carefully grabbed a side of the detective's face.

"He almost had you."

"Joker..." He said grabbing his hand. "Please, don't touch me..." Slowly, he pushed it away.

The jester did not reply, placing his mask back on his face while the other man headed to leave, but was stopped by his ally grabbing his arm.

"Where are you going?"

"To the cave, get back to cleaning your place."

"I still have ten hours before the neighbor can start smelling him." He let go of him and added. "Your butler won't know."

22:33 PM, both men are in the Batcave. Bruce had demanded Alfred to not disturb him tonight for he was to be making a lot of researches and wanted to concentrate.

He was sitting at the computer, with the other man placed next to him, on his desk, just like at work.

"You know, Batsy, first time I came in here I didn't get the chance to tell you how much I love the décor!" The detective ignored the joyful man. "I mean, this place is so you! Unlike all the fancy rooms in your manor and tower. This cave's got your vibe, your essence. It's dark, mysterious and so full of..."

"Shit!" The hero exclaimed while almost jumping out of his chair.

"Language, Bats!" The clown mocked.

"I was hoping to be wrong..."

"Wrong about what?"

"The test subject, Nygma, the mushrooms... How did I not understood earlier?"

"What's going on?" The pale man asked while getting off the desk.

"The Reds are eggs! That's why I couldn't find which chemicals were forming the liquid part of it, because these were not normal components, but a living thing."

"Like what?"

"Genetically modified mycellium and cordyceps taking place in the host body to rearrange a few thing in his brain and then slowly transmitting the principal medicinal component of the drug. That's why it's so strong." The jester kept grinning, so far showing no worries about these information. "How many do you need to take per day or week?"

"Once a month."

"What happens if you skip it?" The dark knight questioned, concerned of his own fate.

"I don't know." He chuckled, but seemed getting stressed. "I need to call Harley."

"What?! Why now?"

"She probably knew, plus she's the only one clearly immune to the fungi parasitic effects. Remember? She ate one and no consequences followed."

"I think you should arrange a meeting with the hole gang on the subject. Make them realize that if somebody ever stop them, they'll all..."

"How many do you have left?" The lunatic rapidly asked.

"One." He replied to the man staring back at him with a smirk that could not hide the fear building up in his expression. "Maybe it's the fungi that dies and not the host. It lives of the Reds, it'll surely deceased without it."

"You're living of the Reds too, now." The smaller man pointed out and took a phone out of small compartment of the suit on his right triceps. "What should I tell the gang?"

"You need to find a cure or legalize the narcotic before someone stops you." He instructed while caressing his black hair, head bowed down wondering how bad it was under his skull. "You could also ask about Nygma."

"Bruce..." He looked up to the madman who had stopped smiling. "You can put an end to everything."

His heart sank as he pictured himself and the man in front of him, in synchronization with so many, falling for the last time in month or so. Generations of murderers, anti-hero, lunatics and criminals collapsing, leaving behind a cleanse Gotham. Having nothing but their own foolishness to blame for their inglorious decline. He could easily imagine, after the mourning of them, the entire city rising into something greater than what any of them would have come to knew in their complete lifetime.

He could put an end to everything.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The hero was sitting in his chair, eyes emotionless and lost in his thoughts while the jester was walking all over the place, calling Crane over and over again until he finally got an answered.

"Finally! I know about... I don't care about you sleeping, I know about... Will you shut up! Shut up!" A long silence followed and he giggled. "I know about the Reds. How long were you gonna keep our imminent death secret?... Oh, like tonight? How lucky am I to call you when you wanted to make a meeting too? You think I'm stupid?..." He sat on the desk, next to Bruce. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, young man, especially about Eddie." After a long pause, he seemed to calm down and finally ended the conversation on an upbeat tone. "Great, TTYL." Finishing the whole thing with a loud kissing noise into the phone and hanging up. "We'll be meeting at 21:00 PM, at the lab."

"Legalize it, I'm not letting anyone die."

"If you happen to change your mind, you know what to do." The billionaire unconsciously nodded. "Tonight, hack into the lab's cameras, they're equipped with microphones." He got off and headed toward the exit. "Well, not that I don't enjoy your company, but I've got a guest back at my place."

The larger man looked toward the screen unsure of what to do next.

"Of course..." He replied tired. "Call me."

The clown suddenly stopped and turned his attention back to his partner, chuckling.

"Why?"

Realizing he had no reason for the pale man to contact him, he scratched his head slightly embarrassed before adding.

"If anything comes up, call me."

Each hours of this day down to 20:00 PM felt completely useless as the detective had no longer any idea of what to do. He studied the drug furthermore, hoping to get a clue for a cure, but it was all in vain. He no longer knew from where he was standing in this situation, now that he was pushing his foes toward success.

He had started working an hour earlier, this had been a great idea since the system had clearly been programmed by Nygma. It took him fifteen minutes to be entirely logged on to all the equipment of the laboratory. Sound, visual, all was good.

About ten minutes later, Harleen entered the main room alone, holding many bags. She opened them revealing enough snacks to feed an entire village. With a can of beer in hand, she placed the rest of the drinks in the same room were they sometimes store the test subjects bodies. She took out a few chemicals, syringes, papers, a pen and opened the computer. The detective did not had the best view of the screen and since he did not knew how it would defend itself to hacking he was uncomfortable trying it. If the computer was to inform its user that someone was attempting to spy on them, that would risk canceling the meeting and tipped the gang about having a traitor among them. The woman went on playing some loud music while moving back to the chemicals, writing something unfortunately unreadable. She looked at the clock, sat down opened a bottle of some chemical and took a heavy sniff of it. She had barely placed substance back on the table that she hit the ground and stopped moving. Bruce was absolutely confused by the woman's action and went on theorizing...

"Oh, I know that song!" Alfred interrupted his friend's thinking. "I'mma live life 'til I overdose, while they sleepin on me, that's comatose! I went mainstream with my main team you just mad as f..."

"Alfred." The younger man harshly stopped him.

"I got a little carried away... My apologies." He approached the other man, looking at the screen. "What is happening to her?"

"I don't know..."

The girl on the screen started moving, slowly getting up, grabbing any furniture near to help herself and looked up at the clock.

Harley: A new record!

She quickly wrote something down before taking a sip of alcohol and preparing a syringe of an unknown drug. She noted a few other things, turned to the clock and injected herself.

"She's testing her toxin resistance, perhaps even upgrading it."

"Like Ozzy Osbourne." The older man added and Bruce gave him a baffled look. "Anyway, I was just bringing supper to you."

He placed a plate of jumbalaya in front of the man who smiled and immediately started eating, which made the butler suspicious of the hero not being entirely himself.

He continued watching as she continued ingesting everything and anything. 20:50 PM, Jervis arrived and started cleaning up the lab of the chemicals Quinzel had taken out.

Jervis: Why are you still doing this to yourself?

Harley: He said I should get better.

Jervis: Stop listening to him.

Harley: But he's right, I'm getting better.

Jervis: Are you feeling better?

She pouted and leaned over the table, like a student wanting to sleep in class.

Harley: I'm not sure...

Jervis: I agree with many of the things he does, but when it comes to you, I don't. Never did.

He went on sitting next to her.

Jervis: After we're cured, we could get away, just the two of us.

She sighed and sat back in the chair, staring at the smaller man with pity in her face.

Jervis: You don't even need a cure, I could help you escape, by yourself.

Harley: I can't, he'll need me...

Crane entered the room, they abruptly turned to him.

Jonathan: Am I interrupting something?

Jervis: Of course not.

He went on sitting at the end of the table and grabbed Quinn's notes.

Jonathan: Impressive...

Jervis: This is moronic.

Harley: Hey! How 'bout you shove your negativity up your...

Joker: Hey!

He had rapidly entered the room and jumped on a chair next to an empty one, keeping a distance with the gang. He placed his arm as if somebody was occupying the empty place and turned to it.

Joker: See? I told you that nobody would care when you'd die. You owe me a hat, now.

Without letting go of his absent friend, he turned to the others. Both men did not react to him, but Harleen had her face buried in her hands when she mumbled.

Harley: I'm so sorry...

Jonathan: Don't blame her, Nygma's death was purely accidental. Dr. Quinzel is absolutely immune to the side effects of the Reds due to the boost Poison Ivy had given her long ago. Studying it with her we found out that there is now a very small vegetal like positive tumor in her body. We tried conceiving a similar one to implant in his stomach. We really believed we had successfully made it, but it overfed the Reds instead of creating a safe union between the parasite and host.

Joker: Sure, but that doesn't explain the bomb.

Harley: We all knew ya'd steal the detonators, so we made fakes.

She arrogantly said, no longer a shamed and in guilt due to Crane's explanations.

Joker: Still, there was no bomb in his head!

Harley: Ya can't put a bomb in a brain!

Joker: Yes you can!

Harley: Nope. So the bomb was in his foot. Did ya check his foot?

A short silence filled the room as the jester laid back in his chair, staring in the distance thoughtful. The smallest man spoke up.

Jervis: What are we supposed to do about the Reds? I can't think of a new antidote, all that we tried failed...

Jonathan: Our next dose is in two weeks, which should be enough time for us to start legalizing the drugs. Jervis and I will work with the media giving our cause the kind of attention it needs. Joker, surely you can convince Bruce Wayne to join the fight, the gala you and him will be attending in three days will be very advertised...

Joker: I have a gala in three days?! I don't even know what to wear!

The vigilante rubbed his eyes in disappointment to hearing the news for he and Lucius Fox had worked so hard to keep the pale man away from public attention in order for him to not be associated with the company and now Crane had ruined it. There was no way he could convinced the lunatic to not come to the event.

Jonathan: And Dr. Quinzel, get the creator.

She was in the middle of a sip of beer when he gave the order and spat it out on the table.

Harley: Th-the creator? I can't, my bad, I...

Crane took a bluetooth out of his jacket's pocket, to which the woman stood up stepping back and the smallest man grabbed her arm.

Harley: C'mon Dr. Crane, I don't know where to look, I swear! This won't help.

Jervis: This is a bad idea, don't do it...

Scarecrow threw the gadget to the confused clown who caught it.

Jonathan: Please. Hold down the main button the convince Dr. Quinzel.

Harley: No no no...

He pressed it, she started convulsing beyond reasonable measures while Tetch tried as he could to hold her up to her feet. He failed, her head hit the ground hard as she continued shaking uncontrollably, letting out small cries that finally got out as the end of a scream when he let go of the button. He stood up and stared down at her, puzzled.

Joker: What was that?

Jonathan: Have you changed your mind?

The smaller man was on his knees next to her, bent down toward her face, holding on to one of her hand and caressing her hair. Her lips slightly moved.

Jervis: She has.

Jonathan: Excellent.

He stood up, swiftly took the bluetooth from the jester's hand and started walking out.

Jonathan: Dismissed. Follow me, Jervis, we've got a lot to do.

He moved closer to the girl beneath him, whispering something into her ear that made her somewhat smile before he obliged. While heading toward the exit, Joker walked passed him and gave Tetch's head a light slap. He did not had time to get into a confrontation, he simply grunted upon leaving.

The pale man dropped on his knees next to the lady in pain, lowering himself toward her.

Joker: Harley? Harley? You there?

He pulled her lids up to open her eyes, which made her whine. She grabbed his hands to make him stop, but kept holding them close to her.

Joker: Wake up, sleeping beauty! I need your help.

Harley: ... my help ...?

Joker: You're the person I trust the most for that kind of stuff... I just don't know what to wear for the gala...

She giggled lightly before lowly replying.

Harley: ... sleeping beauty, huh? She needed a kiss to wake up, ya know?

She still had her eyes closed and the detective was surprised to see his partner look up directly into a camera with his devilish grin only to seductively shake his eyebrows before turning his attention back to the woman on the floor. He lowered himself further and went on kissing her. Bruce uncontrollably turned his head away from the screen, drowning in a type of discomfort he had never felt before. He glanced at the cameras once more, the image of his hands caressing her body, and his lips against hers. Nausea started rising along a burning feeling in his stomach which he could not understand. Glimpsing at the scene from time to time he watched as she placed her arms around him, scratching his back and caressing his white hair, while one of his hand seemed lost up inside her shirt.

He was no longer looking, head bowed down staring into emptiness trying his best not to vomit when he heard his voice.

Joker: Awake yet?

Harley: Yeah... How about a silver and black suit?

The vigilante looked up to see them on the floor, holding on to one another as if this was some comfortable bed.

Joker: Too gray...

Harley: Not gray, silver. Real shinning silver, with a black shirt, black shoes and golden jewelry.

Joker: I'd look like a chandelier.

She laughed while the hero was wandering why he was still watching this imbecilic puke inducing fest.

Harley: Or a fancy knife set... with a wicked long sword...

He chuckled while her phone started ringing, she took it out her pocket and sighed upon answering.

Harley: Yes, Dr. Crane? ... Yeah, I was leaving now... I'm going! I'm not losing time I was just ehm... Making a plan... I'm leaving...

She hung up and pushed the tall man away in order to get up.

Joker: You always knew who and where the creator was, didn't you?

Harley: Ehm... I really got to go.

She started running, and the pale man got up to try and follow. They fled the lab and therefore Bruce's sight, leaving him in a rather terrible emotional state.

He had stopped eating since the first kiss his enemies had shared in front of him. Uncomfortable with his feelings, he decided to stay alone in the cave, tuning in to the news, looking out for Crane and Tetch's next move.

He awoke to the sudden sound of his cell phone, surprised as he could not remember when he had fallen asleep. The news were still going, so he muted it in order to answer to the number he recognized to be his partner's.

Bruce: Joker...

Joker: Oh baby, that sleepy voice of yours... Say my name again.

Bruce: What do you want?

Joker: I want you to say my name once more... Say it...

The larger man did not reply to the pale man's queer demand.

Joker: Fine! Did you see how smooth I was back at the lab, placing this microphone-tracker on her bra like it's nothing.

Bruce: That's why you kissed her!?

Joker: Why were you wandering? Was it bothering you?

Bruce: The two of you kissing was an unpleasant thing to see...

Joker: But we're so pretty! Anyway, I used a gadget from your company so you should be able to spy on her without any difficulty. Also, when were you planning on inviting me to the gala?

Bruce: I wasn't. I know you're going to make a fool out of yourself and make my company look bad.

Joker: Says a man high on illegal medication.

A long silence followed before he concluded the call.

Joker: Give me a lift to the party.

The days following turned up to be nightmarish for the detective.

First of all, he had linked his phone to Harleen's tracker, listening from time to time. All he knew so far was that she was heading south, stopping at bars and motel to relax while remaining completely silent about her mission. She seemed to be taking a vacation more than anything really, as if she was not ready to head toward her objective.  
Furthermore, Crane and Tetch had made their move. A video in which they explain the whole situation going viral over the Internet and the medias. It only consisted of Scarecrow sitting at a table talking. The message was quite simple:

Citizens of Gotham, I'm sure most of you have noticed a lot of people such as me, Jervis Tetch, Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Edward Nygma, now missing, rehabilitating this city in record time and living among you. Everyday more and more inmates from Arkham Asylum are leaving the building to never return and to this day we have let you believe that these events were nothing more than pure miracles. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. In reality, we have been illegally sneaking into the facility a new illegal drug called Reds which so far seems to be working perfectly on every type of mental illness. We admit to have involved ourselves in questionable unlawful activities in order to have succeeded a recovery of our freedom and are reaching to you today because we are seeking your support and understanding to our cause. We would like the Reds to be legalized since it has proven to be helpful even for the most desperate cases such as mine. Speaking of desperate cases, this brings me to my next point. I apologize in advance for I know how shocking this will be for all of you, but I would like to inform you that we already have the Batman's support on this one. The Joker is not missing, he has been living among you for about a year now. We gave him some Reds and helped build a new identity to be sure that he had a chance to a normal life. I will not reveal his new identity for we always keep an eye on him and so far he have been a flawless citizen. If he was to change his behavior for the worst we would make his information public and he knows it. A while ago, the Batman interrogated me since he was suspecting me of a crime I did not commit, it was during this encounter that I mentioned the Joker's new identity to him. I truly was filled with joy when I found out that he was still among us citizen even though his secret had been shared with Gotham's dark knight, therefore showing his support to our cause. We understand if we have to face consequences for our actions, but let me remind you that mental illness is a real sickness like any other and we might have found the cure. Please, be considerate.

Shame was what the detective felt to this message very well received by most of the population. If only he had told everything about his investigation to the pale man they could have came up with a solution allowing Batman to be set apart from the cause. He cursed his distrust toward his partner, but then again, he was the clown prince of crime. He kept eyeing and opening his cell phone ever since this video was uploaded to the Internet, always surprised and disappointed to not be contacted by the jester, yet he could not bring himself to call.

December 3th, in the evening, the billionaire was grooming for what he was expecting to be the worst gala of his life. However, he was somewhat looking forward to it, it is a rare occasion for him to have a person there who truly knows him and would surely be entertaining if the party turned out to be mundane. The more he thought about it, the more he was getting a positive feeling out of the idea. He could let his partner talk about the Reds by himself while he enjoyed his night.

He felt like driving, so picking one of his most luxurious car he left to pick the clown up.

He knocked only a few times before the man in the apartment unlocked the door without opening it. He entered only to hear him speak loudly from his bedroom.

"I'm not done, give me a minute!"

Bruce walked slowly, stopping upon entering the room as he gazed at man holding a small mirror while applying light make up to his face. He eyed him from head to toes, the smaller man did not look like a chandelier nor a fancy knife set, to the dark knight he had the splendor of the Moon in this flamboyant outfit.

"You're very hands... decent." He uncontrollably spoke out and the clown turned to him with an almost disgusted look on his face. "I mean, this style suits you..."

"Batsy, you're pathetic!" He mocked him as he put his make up and mirror away and took his glasses to put them on. "Have you figured out what Harley's been doing? I haven't."

"Me neither, but I linked the tracker to my phone, we'll log on from time to time."

They headed to the living room where the jester leaned against the front door.

"Before we go, I just want to tell you that I won't mind you touching me tonight." He stated looking at Bruce with a smirk.

"Why would I touch you?"

"Don't you wanna dance?" He almost whispered his answer. "Trust me, I can dance better than anyone you know and will know."

"I doubt it." The vigilante responded, getting closer to the dazzling man. "Besides, it doesn't matter to me whether my partners are good or not since..." He placed his hand on the smaller man's waist, who grabbed his shoulder as they automatically locked their free hand together. "I always lead." He firmly added.

"Oh, I'd let you think that..." The jester replied moving away from the door, pulling the other man who followed. "While truly, I have you under a spell that your physical dominance cannot overcome."

"Maybe I'm just playing your game until you lower your guard and I can assume control." The vigilante replied, actually dancing with the pale man.

"Than I guess you'll have to play forever, mon triste amour..." He purred.

"More like 30 seconds than forever..." He replied before forcefully pinning the madman against a wall, closing any space between them. "Plaisant farceur."

"God! I love what this drug's doing to you!"

"So do I, flawless citizen." The larger man said with a smirk.

"I'm no angel, you know? I'm always carrying a weapon." He arrogantly answered.

"You're bringing a weapon to the gala?"

"Sure! Search me, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding... Oh!" The other man had already started running his hands all over his body. "Finding my ehm... Wicked long sword."

Bruce abruptly stopped and stepped back sighing while his partner burst into a loud laughter to his own idiotic joke. That killed the mood and they started heading to the car while the smaller man kept giggling.

"So, what's this gala about?" Joker asked upon entering the car to which the billionaire only turned to him with an embarrassed smile as an answer. "You don't know?!"

They laughed together for a moment and the detective started driving.

"Let's check up on Harley-girl." The clown said and his partner gave him his phone. "All right... She's in Mexico now! In a bar near the border... Audio is loading..."

Harley: ...ouncy ass! Yeah, baby!

Both men looked at each other strangely to what she had just said while hearing a few persons laughing in response to Quinzel.

Harley: So then, ya know, I get off. She's all happy and hot, like, I've exhausted the life outta her, if ya know what I mean?

As the persons in the bar laughed once more while agreeing, the clown sat back in the car with a troubled expression on his face.

Harley: So, we were looking at each other and I said: Girl, I'm the Quinn of the jungle!

The laughter were cut short by the jester who quickly closed the phone.

"Sex puns! I always hated her stupid sex puns!" He rapidly said while the other man chuckled.

Arriving at destination, the caped crusader parked a little away from the place to have a little chat with the man by his side.

"How about you only talk about the Reds and I only talk about the company?"

"No problem, boss." He enthusiastically said. "Besides, I don't even know what the name of my job is."

As soon as they entered the place, a bunch of stereotypical greedy people, two men and a woman, walked up to them or rather to Bruce more precisely in order to greet them. The billionaire started introducing the smaller man.

"This is my most recent business partner..."

"I'm White." He awkwardly interrupted him, leaving the three people to nod in confusion. "I mean, I really am White."

"We can see that..." The oldest man replied uncomfortably chuckling.

"Jack have his own very unique sense of humor." The hero laughed off embarrassed while placing his arm around the pale man. "His last name is White."

They all slightly laughed and the oldest man spoke up once more.

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you, Jack." He said presenting his hand.

"Actually, please call me Jackson." He answered accepting the handshake. "Only my friends call me Jack."

Joker smirked with arrogance while the persons smiled yet looked highly insulted. He then went on to point at the woman among them stating.

"But, Mademoiselle, you can call me Jack." He giggled. "In fact you could call me anyti..."

"All right!" Bruce cut him short leading him away from them. "Aren't you thirsty, Jack? Let's get ourselves some champagne." When far enough from them he whispered. "Were you planning on insulting all of the guests tonight?" The clown gave a vicious smile to his partner as a response.

"What makes you say that? Anyway, now we have to get some champagne and you are..." He grabbed two flutes of champagne from a garçon passing by. "High on the Reds."

"Well, it's not like people are expecting me to obligatory drink it. I could throw it when..."

The jester laughed and turned to the crowd, raising his glass.

"I'd like to propose a toast!" He shouted and everybody turned to him. "I'm Jackson White, from Wayne Enterprises and you mister!" He pointed to a random young man who looked so surprised he glanced behind him and pointed to himself. "Yeah, you mister! We've been following your work for a while, good going! You should be hearing propositions from us very soon!" He raised his glass even higher. "A toast to the bright future of this young lad!"

They all applauded as if this was making any sense, the whole situation was so absurd it made the larger man smile as he placed alcohol in his mouth. The eccentric man turned to him and whispered.

"Swallow."

He stared at his green eyes with animosity when his attention were brought to Lucius Fox approaching him. He accidentally swallowed making him cough a little.

"Mr. Wayne, are you all right?" The CEO asked.

The lunatic giggled and walked away from them.

"I thought we had agreed to not allow him in public?"

"Sorry, he heard about this gala from somewhere else. I couldn't stop him from coming. Anyway, I'm tracking somebody as we are speaking, if I happen to need a distraction could I count on you?"

"I think Mr. White is already doing a perfect job." He responded looking toward the clown who was loudly mocking a woman.

"Wow! I didn't knew Juicy Couture made dresses!"

The vigilante rolled his eyes, finished his drink and headed to the bathroom where he locked the door and took out his cell phone. Harleen was on the move, still heading south, he loaded audio.

Harley: What a weather, right?

Woman: ¿Qué?

Harley: How rude! K you too...

Woman: ¿Qué?

Harley: Tsss... K!

He giggled at the girl's silliness and closed his phone, she must have been hitch hiking. He walked out and continued celebrating.

It was going pretty well, he kept speaking of the company and what not while his partner seemed to be gaining a lot of people's attention in a somewhat positive way, which was good. He heard of the Reds a little and supported everything he heard White said. Unfortunately, he was getting inebriated as he had miscalculated what he could handle while on drugs. He was loud and easily entertained, especially by the jester.

He went back to check on Harleen once more, still on the move and very silent.

Upon exiting the room he noticed that almost all the women of the party were surrounding the smaller man, laughing, blushing and enjoying whatever he was doing. He almost rushed to him only to watch as he was presenting jokes, magic tricks and what not to them.

"Now, who here trusts me? How about you?" He grabbed a small pretty blonde woman who obeyed as he placed her back against him and placed her hand on top of a table. "Now, I really need you to trust me and not move." She giggled excited. "We're going to play a knife game..."

"Jack." They all turned to the billionaire annoyed. "I... I just received a call and I need to talk to you immediately."

He sighed and started to follow him, turning around one quick time to wink at them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"These ladies are in major need of some excitement, Brucie." The detective just kept staring at him angrily before he added. "What can I do? Chicks digs the magic tricks!"

"Stop flirting with other people."

"Other people?" He laughed. "Wait, are you really being jealous?"

"No. This simply..." He thought about his next words carefully. "This simply came out wrong. I had a lot to drink and you're endangering them."

Music started playing louder and the ambiance was starting to set in.

"Dance with me." The madman demanded to his partner who did not move nor reply. "I guess I'll dance with the short blonde inste..." He was cut short as the other man grabbed him and pulled him to the dance floor.

"One dance." He lowly spoke.

"I love you." Joker whispered with a smirk.

"Don't say that." Bruce said anxious.

"But you make such a funny face whenever I say that." He mocked. "I love you so much."

"Stop or I'll walk away." He warned.

"The farther you are, the louder I'll speak."

The hero rolled his eyes and got an imbecilic idea. He got closer and whispered to the pale man.

"Some times I think about how different things could have been. How I could have never been a vigilante and you, not a criminal. We would have met under different circumstances and we would've been friends."

"You're lying."

"I'm not. We could've been maybe even more than just friends."

"That's a cruel joke." He chuckled. "I dream about you every time I fall asleep."

"I dream about you when awake." The larger man glanced at his partner's expression. "Now, you're the one making a funny face."

"Yeah, I just thought about Harley." They abruptly stopped dancing. "Let's check on her."

The exited the dance floor and were stopped by some man questioning the billionaire.

"Are you two...?"

"No."

"But you just danced..."

"What now? We can't dance with a gay man without being gay ourselves? He's my friend and he wanted to dance, that's all." He harshly explained and the jester added.

"It's 2015, get with the times!"

They then headed to the bathroom and entered when no one was looking, locking the door behind them. They opened up the phone and witnessed that she had stopped at a motel in the south of Mexico.

Harley: ...ome with me, come back to Gotham.

A woman replied negatively to Quinzel's proposal and her voice made the dark knight's heart skip a beat.

"Selina?"

Harley: It's a mess back there and it'll get worse.

Selina: That's exactly why I left and I'm not going back there. I don't even understand why you're going back.

Harley: I have no choice, I'm on a mission. I feel like Super Mario.

Selina: Super Mario?

Harley: Yeah, but instead of castles it's rain forests, ya know? I'm sorry, but your princess is in another rain forest!

"It's about weed-lady!"

Selina: You really think you can convince her to not only forgive you but come back to this hell hole you call a city only to save the lives of people she hates?

Harley: No, not at all...

Selina: So you're... Oh no... Are you planning on kidnapping her? Harley, no...

Harley: I don't have a choice!

Selina: You cannot be serious right now!?

Harley: I'll be gentle!

Selina: This is by far the stupidest thing you'll have ever done. Besides, how are you gonna manage kidnapping Mother-freaking-nature in her rain forest paradise?! You can't.

Harley: Yeah I can! See I've trained and... Keep what I'm about to show you secret.

Both men looked at one another with wide eyes, curious of what they were about to learn. They heard indescribable sounds followed by Catwoman gasping.

Selina: What the hell, Harley!?

Harley: Pretty cool, heh?

Selina: What have you done?!

Harley: Improved, Kitten.

Selina: I don't know what to think of this... I have to go, you should get moving too.

Harley: I know, thanks for the delivery, I needed the change.

Selina: Aren't you going to take these with you.

Harley: Naaah... Screw carrying stuff.

They heard their voices growing in distance and the door closed to end in silence as the watched the tracker keeping still.

"She changed her bra..." Joker pointed out disappointed.

"If Poison Ivy created the Reds, than Harleen created the gang and it is a lot smaller than what you have told me!"

"I was only relating what they told me!"

"Some thing is very wrong with everything..."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note**

To all of the curious, later in this chapter some riddle will be solved and here's a link for the one who wants to test this for themselves. I recommend watching this AFTER the chapter have been read : youtube /watch?v=5cW-t7aFMEI

Also, I'd like to apologize for the slow updates, I have been extremely busy lately, but now I should be able to get back to posting around one chapter per month.

Bonne lecture!

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

A chilling breeze softly caressed his nude skin slowly awaking the man from his slumber. As he gained back consciousness he started feeling nauseous and felt annoyed by the beating of his heart pounding as if located in his head. He sighed while regretting his party last evening. Looking around he recognized his partner's bedroom, in which he was alone. He pushed the blankets away only to realize that he was naked, he quickly placed the blanket around himself as he would do with a towel and searched the room for his clothes. As he did not find them, he decided to get out and headed to the living room.

Joker was sitting on the floor, close to the television, watching the news, drinking eggnog and eating a fruit cake.

"What happened yesterday?"

He demanded to the man who turned around and got up revealing one of the ugliest outfit he had ever worn. An off red V-neck sweater with a deer that looked like it had been ran over by three cars, very tight green boxers and up to the knees wool socks.

"Where do I even start!?" He mocked.

"What on Earth are you wearing?"

"I'm feeling Chrismassy, it snowed yesterday." He sipped on his eggnog and continued. "We drank, danced, headed here where we finished my white wine and you opened up about your feelings."

"My feelings?"

"About your parents, being Batman, how lonely you felt, et cetera. You made me feel like a real therapist."

"Why am I naked?"

"Oh... I don't remember this part either." He said with a smirk. "Your clothes are under the sink."

Bruce headed to it, took them and went on dressing up in the bathroom. He went back to the kitchen and served himself a glass of water before sitting down next to the clown who offered him some of his food, which he declined.

"I was thinking, since we can no longer track Harleen we should hack into Tetch and Crane's cellphone. Listening to their conversations should give us the information we need."

"Eddie made our phones in order for this to be avoided. I doubt we could successfully hack them."

"Well I still have the boxes we collected from his apartment, some may contain what we need to achieve this."

"Oh yeah..." The pale man's smile widened as he jumped up, pointed toward nothing and enthusiastically yelled out. "To the Batcave! Na! Na! Na! Na!..." Some knocks and muffled complaints came through the wall that lead to his neighbor.

"What are you doing?" The hero questioned.

"I don't know, but if you had a TV show I could imagine it being this way."

"I doubt it." He got up too. "That would be completely ridiculous."

The smaller man grabbed a pair of jeans to put on without changing anything else to his appearance.

"Are you really going to be dressed like this all day long?" The larger man asked while chuckling. "You look like a clown."

A disenchanted stare was the only answer he received.

15:35 PM, they arrived at the Batcave were Alfred without any questioning, nor resistance let the pale man in, but not without giving an highly disappointed look to his friend. He also informed him that his new suit was ready and left them to be by themselves.

The detective gathered all the weird boxes on a table where they began investigating them.

"I think we could break them open." The jester proposed.

"Sure we can, but what if what's inside is fragile?"

"What are these made of anyway?"

"Mostly iron." He turned his attention up to the man who had started giggling. "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing! It's not as if we could weaken the boxes by placing them in an highly oxygenated environments to then break them easily without destroying its content." After a brief moment of silence the vigilante answered.

"I was just about to propose that."

"Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!" The clown chanted.

After creating the perfect conditions for the material to rapidly deteriorate, the two men sat together to catch up with the news. All they learned is that most people were inclined for the Reds to be legalized and that the gang were not facing any consequences so far for the case was so unusual and slipping through so many loop holes it was difficult to pin down what crime these people should be accused of according to the laws. While the Reds was an illegal medication, none of it's components were illegal chemicals and while sneaking things into the asylum was illegal they could not pin down the people directly responsible for this action.

18:47 PM, the boxes were almost completely rusty. Taking them out, they started breaking through the metal, Bruce doing so with his gloved up fists in order to control the force of impact and the pale man simply smashing them against the corner of the table.

Pieces of electronic with green paint that did not seemed to make any sense smudged over each bit was all they got. In incomprehension they kept scrutinizing everything until the vigilante spoke up.

"It's a puzzle."

Placing two pieces together the green paint formed one continued strike. After the realization, it only took them around twelve minutes to solve the entire thing. What the puzzle had made them build up was a record player. The larger man stared at it, reading the green message.

"Z-0-9?" He scratched his head. "Maybe the zero is an O. Th or... an N."

"He knew!" The pale man exclaimed. "Eddie knew he was dying! I know how to solve this!" He grabbed his jacket. "I'll be back with the right record!"

"Joker, wait! What do you mean?"

"Trust me, I'll be back!" He shouted while exiting the cave in a hurry.

About thirty minutes later, the jester came back holding on to The white album from the Beatles.

"The Beatles?"

"He loved them, Bats!"

He took out the record and placed it on the machine which started playing the music. He kept on skipping it until he arrived to Revolution 9 where the dark knight heard and understood the message: No. 9.

"Nothing is happening." Bruce criticized.

"This is where it gets messed up..."

The madman answered as he played the same part in reverse. Bruce was shocked upon hearing the words being changed to: Turn me on Deadman. A few clicks came from the machine as if the needle had worked on the record the same way a key does on a lock and it opened a small hidden compartment on the side. It contained a paper on which a link was written. With no time to waste, they entered it into the Batcomputer only to end up on a black page with a small space to write. Joker went on typing.

Joker: Hello

It popped up in green text and the website displayed a short message: Processing information. Before it surprisingly answered.

B1: Took you long enough.

Both of their jaws dropped.

Joker: Eddie?

B1: Only what I had time to salvaged.

He had created an AI in a sad attempt to keep himself alive. The screen seemed to be staring back now and the vigilante felt sorry for the corrupted deceased genius who had spent his last days alone in fear for death would bring an end to the most precious thing he had, his mind.

Joker: I'm with the Bat now

B1: I never figured out who he was.

Joker: I did

The website processed but did not gave any answer, this must have been something Nygma had not registered in the coding.

Joker: Why did you die?

B1: I trusted you. I was convinced you had stopped them or reversed the process of my surgery, but I was wrong to believe in you.

The lunatic frown and gritted his teeth to this reply before angrily typing.

Joker: You're no better I could've stopped them if it was myself and thought you could do the same but you can't

Joker: You're an idiot!

B1: I can leave and never come back.

He was breathing heavy in frustration, the man next to him placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't feel guilty..."

"I never feel guilty! He's being a jerk!"

"Don't ruin this opportunity, embrace it."

Joker: How do I hack into the gang's phones?

B1: There's an app for that! I encoded a link directly into the hacking device of your Champion suit.

"Well, that was easy." The clown chuckled, now calmed down.

"Let's go to your place and get it."

"Give me a second."

Joker: Can I come back later? Will you still be here?

B1: You can always come back to this website. I'm forever gone, this is an AI, you moron.

"Classic Eddie!"

He laughed and closed the page before following his partner to get a car and leave.

At the jester's place, he found the app in no time linking himself to all of the gang's cellphones, including his. The vigilante had thought ahead and brought his own hacking device to study and copy the app for himself.

"We're taking over, baby." He whispered with thrill in his voice, locking his intense stare to the man's blue eyes.

"Well, not exactly." He replied somewhat pessimist. "The Reds should be legalized soon, but as for the cure we still need to convince Poison Ivy. I should retrieve her from Harleen when she comes back. I doubt she'd be able to persuade her of anything after kidnapping her."

"My life's on the line, I'm sure she'll figure something out." The clown assured him. "And then we'll be cured, we'll be powerful and ready to take this city back from them."

"You make it sound so easy..." The larger man sat on the bed an sighed. "I'm not sure of how we'll manage this. We'll have to expose every crime they have committed and every flaws the drug have." He looked up to his partner, turmoil in his eyes. "And then there's you... What am I suppose to do with you? It's only fair to send you back too..."

"But I've helped! I'm your partner!" He quickly answered with understandable anger. "I've been with you from the very beginning and I'll stay 'til the end!"

"You're still a criminal, Joker."

"Brucie, look at me..." He slowly obliged. "Look at me and tell me that I was wrong to help you!"

"I guess I still have time to figure this one out." He got up. "Until then, let's get back to work and keep an eye out on the gang."

Days went by with no news of Quinzel, but many information through short conversations which the detective recorded could soon become extremely useful for incriminating them. One of them was oddly satisfying for the dark knight.

Jervis: Considering that the Reds are no longer a mystery to the public, I could get rid of the Bluetooth for the Arkham staff.

Jonathan: You could simply deactivate them and we would be able to keep them for other purposes.

Jervis: I must admit that I think it's a shame. I quite enjoyed freely roaming the asylum and decorating it with promotional messages and art.

Jonathan: Yes, I remember when you almost rose suspicions that time you absolutely had to draw a rabbit on a wall.

Jervis: Oh... It was in April, they probably ended up blaming Calendar Man.

Images of him holding Harleen by the throat, above the ground, right next to the small man during the interrogation he had held with them about a graffiti in Arkham were popping up in his mind upon hearing the answers he had never gotten from anyone. Tetch must have made it while in his cell, controlling the worker's mind to hide it from them while Nygma could load an image of the cell in days prior to the modification.

Another interesting discussion took place a few days later, on December 7th.

Jervis: I've prepared our next dose... Can't say that I don't miss her.

Jonathan: Miss who?

Jervis: Well, you know... Harley.

Jonathan: Do not get distracted.

Jervis: No! No. I meant that she works well. Not having her as an assistant in the process really made this task...

Jonathan: Did she ever told you who the creator was?

Jervis: I... She wanted me to keep this for myself, but you're about to figure it out anyway. It's Ivy.

Jonathan: Damn... How are we going to hide her? Surely, she'll be furious to be forced back into Gotham.

Jervis: I'll figure something out.

December 8th, 01:37 AM, Batman and the Champion were in the middle of a fight with several thugs related to Anarky who were desperately trying to burn a high school to the ground with no avail as the wicked duo had been sent to put a stop to their plan. They were fighting with the last three of them when suddenly, Joker's phone started ringing, they all stopped for a moment.

"Sorry fellas, but I've got to take this call!" He stated with his intimidating modified voice.

He went on rampaging his way through the fight with such violence, the hero had pick up his pace to knock out more thugs than his ally, worried he might accidentally kill someone. After the rapid fight, the smaller man escaped from a window in order to take the call. The caped crusader properly finished the job by handcuffing the unconscious criminals. He had his app running, so he could hear the clown's conversation as he picked up with his voice modifier off.

Joker: Customer?

Jervis: You know it's me. I got a problem.

Joker: If you ask me, you've got more than one!

Jervis: Hilarious. Do you know any technology that could help us contain a meta-human?

Joker: Is Killer Croc joining us?

Jervis: Well, one day he might. I have been looking into his case recently and he does have potential, but I digress. Can you help?

Joker: Do you need him to be conscious?

Jervis: Yes.

Joker: Do you need him to move freely?

Jervis: Well... Maybe.

Joker: Than I am glad to announce to you that Wayne Enterprise has got the thing for you! Give me three days and I'll ship it your way!

Batman rolled his eyes upon hearing this response.

Jervis: I think the lab would be a fine place for this.

He hung up and scrutinized the night to find the dark knight standing at an open window, glaring down at him. He placed his thumb up in the air while nodding, the mask off revealing an over-confident smile.

The pale man had spent the next days at the lab building a small cell similar to the one specially made for Ivy at the GCPD building and Arkham. Since it had been made by Wayne Enterprise, he only had to inspire himself with the plans and create a smaller version of it.

The caped crusader could feel that they were finally nearing an immense confrontation with the gang. Putting the investigating aside, he decided to spend most of his time training with his already efficient partner.

They did so every night until one day, on December 12th, both of them were in the office at the Wayne Tower when Alfred contacted them to share that the hacking device was picking up a call. Quickly linking his computer to his device they put the volume on low and listened.

Jervis: Hello?

Harleen: Hatter, what's good?!

Jervis: Harley? Are you all right? I was starting to think you had gotten away...

Harleen: What?! Like I'd leave ya behind! Have I missed anything important while gone?

Jervis: Oh... Not much. When are you coming back? Is she with you?

Harleen: Tonight! And she's eh... Y'okay?... Red?

An angry voice made its way from the background to the phone.

Ivy: What do you think?!

Harleen: She fine!

Jervis: We made a cell to contain her, it's in the...

Harleen: Nope. We're not gonna need that. I'm not gonna threat her like a prisoner, she's cooperative. Right, Red?

Ivy: Fuck you!

Jervis: What do you mean?

Harleen: She's not tied up nor handcuffed. She's just sitting in the passenger seat and isn't trying to escape. She's a real nice... Ow! My jaw!

Ivy: You deserve it!

Harleen: Sure, but c'mon babe I... Ow! Stop!

Jervis: Are you sure about this?

Ivy: Let me go!

Harleen: Promise you'll stop hitting me... I guess I'll have to tickle ya.

Ivy: No! I'll stop! Just... don't touch me...

Harleen: Yeah, I'm sure about this. In fact, could ya do me a favor?

Jervis: What do you need?

Harleen: Search my room, grab some cash and go out, leave us one night alone.

Jervis: Jonathan would never allow this...

Harleen: Her and me needs to solve a few things, plus she's on our side. What's the worse thing that could happen?

Jervis: She escapes or destroys something or someone, we never get a cure and all die from the Reds, except for you, but most of us would be doom...

Harleen: Hatter, I have everything under control.

A loud sigh came from Ivy.

Harleen: Yeah, you're creative and smart, ya could figure out something to tell him.

Jervis: I suppose I could...

Harleen: Thanks! You're the best, see you soon!

Jervis: Sure, I l... I'll see you tomorrow.

Both men looked at one another as they hung up.

"How does he manage this?" The madman asked. "Manage to sound so miserable all the time."

"I'll pay a visit to Harleen tonight." The hero stated while the other man finished laughing.

"I can't wait."

"I'll handle it alone, truly alone. You're not going to watch nor listen to what I'll be doing. You get too irrational when it comes to her." He explained to the smaller man who caressed his face upon whispering his answer.

"As you wish, baby."

He grabbed the delicate hand without pushing it away. He stared down, unable to stand the gaze his partner was giving him.

"You say the Reds doesn't change a person. Why weren't you this way before?" Bruce questioned.

"I was, but you never listened nor trusted me. The Reds may not change a person, but it does keep us calm." His fingers ran through the dark hair of the larger man. "I know you're feeling it too..."

Lowering himself to the man sitting, he closed the space between them. The billionaire could feel the long nails tenderly scratching the back of his neck. His eyes closed and they shared a short yet enticing kiss.

23:37 PM, the vigilante was awaiting an answer to his knocking on the kitchen window. As he was ignored, he let himself in. To his surprised, Harleen had heard him and ran into the room. She was wearing boxers and was zipping a jacket upon entering in a hurry.

"The hell ya doing here?!"

"I'm here for Ivy." The woman's eyes filled up with gloominess as she shook her head in denial. "If you let me leave with her, I won't inform the GCPD of her presence nor your doing in bringing her back."

"But... she's not here, Bats." She terribly lied.

"I know why she's here. She'll find a cure with me." He stepped forward only to meet with her hands on his chest.

"Why?" She asked while offering resistance to him.

"I'm giving you a chance to make this easy and keep your freedom, Harleen."

"What about hers?!" The girl suddenly yelled out in anger. "I don't wanna fight ya, turn around and leave!" Swiftly she pushed him with a good enough force to make him step back twice. "Please?"

"She's too dangerous." He explained himself, remaining calm.

"So is he, but he's free!" Harley shouted back. "I'm not letting her go."

"What guarantees you that I'll work on that cure if I go with you?" Questioned the red head as she entered the room, wearing nothing but a robe, and stood behind her girlfriend.

"If you don't, I'll burn every plant in Gotham."

"If ya do, I'll burn one citizen of Gotham." The blonde stated as a diabolical smirk made its way through her face. "One flawless citizen."

"You wouldn't." He replied.

"Even if you do burn all the plants in this city, I still don't know if there even is a cure. Destroying all of the wildlife for something that might not even exist is pure madness." Ivy added.

"Letting a deadly fugitive, such as you, free, is pure madness."

"I'll show ya pure madness..."

"Harl!" The meta-human harshly interrupted the younger woman. "You're not helping."

"You neither." The detective stated.

"You have to understand that thousands of people could die. Both of us does not know how many of them are aware of this, but what we do know is that many people are expecting Harley to bring me to this lab and find a cure. Now, your strongest argument against her is her freedom, but do you really think she's going to live long enough to enjoy this said freedom if she comes back alone? They might be sane, but sane people can do unthinkable things when they get hopeless."

"All I could do is inform the population that you are with me. Harleen remains free and the people remain hopeful."

"Then again, that would show a huge lack of trust from the Batman toward Harley's gang. Which could cancel the legalization of the Reds since most of the population tend to blindly agree with you."

"How about the fact that I surely simply have better lab equipment..."

"Oh my God! Can ya both stop talking!? You're gonna drive me insane! How 'bout ya place one of your camera in my lab, no trust issues, everybody's hopeful, you keep watching us like a creep, I'm free, Red's with me!" The blonde quickly moved between the two of them and grabbed their shoulders. "I'm happy, you're happy, we're all happy! That's settle, great, we're going now!" She left heading toward her bedroom. "I am so done with all that bull..." The door slammed.

"Deal?" Poison Ivy asked confused and surprised.

"Deal." The vigilante agreed while they heard the bedroom door opening and a mumbling followed.

"... strangled for a graffiti... thinks I'm Clayface... apparently I killed your favorite nerd..." She arrived in the kitchen dressed up and stared at her girlfriend with anger before shouting. "He's using my black hoodie as a door mat!" She turned to the hero and yelled even louder. "My black hoodie, Batsy!"

"What are you talking about?" The other woman questioned completely lost.

"I'm just so done... come get dress."

She pulled her arm to direct her to the bedroom, meanwhile the caped crusader left by the window. He was to wait and watch over them to make sure they truly were heading to the lab and not escaping.

It went fine and when they were at around ten minutes from destination, the detective moved past them in order to install the camera.

Back to the cave he checked what was happening, both of the women were asleep. Ivy in the bed her cell contained and Harley had brought a pillow, a blanket and was sleeping on a desk. This idea wasn't so bad, since Poison Ivy was the creator, she surely had the best knowledge to find a cure and test out her theory on her toxic-resistant friend. The detective thought to himself that maybe working with the gang on this particular issue could be advantageous.

December 14th, it was time for a dose of Reds to all of the gang members. Instead of meeting up in the lab or an abandoned building, they opted for Crane's place as he demanded in order to keep mother nature out of their meetings.

Bruce was watching the meeting through Jackson's glasses. He was sitting on a couch in the living room, his feet on the coffee table, downing some Pepsi while eating chips. Quinn was next to him, also stuffing her face in snacks. The master of fear was sitting on a chair across them, drinking what seemed to be rum.

Jonathan: I don't get it, he should be here by now. I haven't heard from him ever since you got back.

Harleen: I know, me neither... Should we be worried?

Jonathan: I don't know. I wonder if he missed being the Hatter too much... if he skips on the Reds, he'd doomed us all.

Harleen: He wouldn't.

Jonathan: Plus, we would lose him...

Joker: Relax, he's probably struggling with all the high stairs that leads to your place.

The clown mocked the situation while Crane downed his drink in one shot, ignoring him before continuing.

Jonathan: Of all of us, he was the most hated from the public.

Harleen: Ya think something bad happened?

Jonathan: Unfortunately, I'm starting to consider it. He is awfully late and it's just not his style.

Jackson glanced at his watch.

Joker: Well, either he's dead or he'll be here in no time.

Only a few seconds after he speaks, a knock came from the door. The two insane psychiatrists sighed in relief as the man got up to answer the door.

He opened it to reveal no one, only a box covered in bunny drawings. He leaned a little outside the frame and screamed out.

Jonathan: Hey you! Stop!

Harleen: What's that?

The man returned with the package, placing it on the coffee table.

Jonathan: I don't know, some guy drop it off and ran. Surely a hater, get ready for anything.

The two clowns leaned toward the box and, slowly, Crane opened it. The content made him gasp as he stepped back in anguish, knocking the furniture that was behind him. The blonde started crying excessively and the jester went on laughing.

Atop of white roses covered in what surely was not red paint, was Jervis Tetch's severed head. Next to it was a note on a Queen of Heart's card: Off with his head.

Joker: I guess he's both! Dead and here in no ti...

Harleen: Shut up and get the man!

Without losing any more seconds, he got up and started running as fast as he could, which was pretty rapid. Coming out of the building, he spotted the running man far, but not too far either, from him. He went on sprinting as if the Bat was tailing him, closing the space between them. Things were looking good until the stranger jumped in a vehicle and sped off. The pale man did not lost any time to spot a man in another car and ran toward him, taking a knife out of his jacket and yelling.

Joker: Get out of the car!

To his surprised, the driver took a gun out of his jacket and aimed at him.

Driver: Fuck off, punk!

Swiftly, he jumped behind a conveniently placed garbage can where the vigilante could hear his heavy breathing while two shots where fired before he drove off.

Joker: Well... that was odd...

The lunatic headed back to the meeting where they took their Reds and the remaining gang member agreed on calling the police and sending Jackson's back home before they arrive in order to protect his identity.

Bruce and the pale man joined up at the cave, the billionaire was ready to get on with investigating the small man's death, but the clown seemed against the idea.

"Let's begin by making a list of people who hated the midget. So, that's Gotham minus Pumpkin-Joe and Harley."

"I'm not going to work like that, I'll analyze the clues and work from them toward the murderer."

"I think it's a waste of precious time, there are extra Reds in the system right now that could be yours if we track them down and steal them. Let's take care of the living, let's take care of you, Brucie."

The hero rolled his eyes and started armoring up.

"I'm heading to GCPD's building to investigate." He said to the jester who had started moving toward the exit of the cave, bitter and disappointed. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Upon arriving at the place, the detective was surprised as he immediately was informed by Gordon that they already had found the killer.

"She cooperated with us and gave us the murder weapon, an ax."

"Who is she?" The caped crusader asked.

"Claire Williams."

"Williams? As in Stephanie Williams, the first Alice?" Batman asked and the commissioner nodded. "How is she related to the victim?"

"She's her twin. We worked hard to keep her existence hidden from the medias and the public, assuming she'd make a good potential victim for the Hatter."

"I need to interrogate her."

"Sure." He showed him the interrogation room's door, but before the vigilante could get closer, Jim grabbed his arm and added. "But don't threat her like any criminal, she's not cruel, she's... You'll see for yourself..."

As he entered to room, the already crying woman's eyes widened in terror as she desperately shouted.

"Please! Don't hurt me, I've already admitted the crime! I'm so... so sorry..."

He closed the door and did not approached her.

"I won't hurt you, I'm just here to ask you a few questions."

She nodded while sobbing. Her face was covered in tears and smudged make up, her hair had been freshly dyed red with temporary color spray, he nails were red and she was wearing a red antique dress. She truly looked like the Queen of Heart.

"Where did you get the costume?"

"I don't know... I don't remember the crime."

"You don't?" He took a step forward. "How do you know you've committed it?"

"I remember being..." She gasped and sob. "Being alone in this closed flower shop, covered in blood, with the ax in my hands and... and..." She cried some more before continuing. "There he was! On the floor, attached with belts and chains and... no head..."

"Where was his head?"

"I don't know, I didn't look for it. I panicked and ran out of there, weapon in hands... Didn't took much time for people to call the cops on me."

"Do you know where the head ended up?"

"The police told me that I..." She looked down and swallowed, holding back the tears. "I sent it to his friends in package..."

"A man delivered it, who is he?"

"I don't know, I swear I don't remember doing those things... It's like I was... Possessed."

"Are you a religious person?"

"No, well not really, but I don't know how else to explain it. I was walking home from the gym and things got dark, in my mind. Memories of my sister, of him, I kept feeling watched."

"Do you think you were followed?"

"Maybe." She rubbed her teary eyes. "The streets were making no sense, I got lost and I was going insane, but remained calm. I couldn't brush off the thoughts of my sister and the thoughts of avenging her. I could sense a distant deep voice whispering unspeakable things to me, constantly. I went on agreeing with it and then... That's it, I woke up in the shop."

The detective knew there was nothing more to ask of this person in dire need of psychiatric help. At least she did the right thing by cooperating as much as her current state of mind would allow her to do so. The dark knight felt pity for Claire as he turned around and grabbed the door handle, ready to leave this tormented killer.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened."

He almost whisper upon exiting.

Since the case was closed, the opportunity for Tetch to have a proper burial was made possible and the date and hour were settled for December 16th,, 14:00 PM. Unfortunately for the gang, this information had somehow made its way to the public which caused an uproar. People making an online petitions stating that the man was undeserving of a proper burial and wanted to stop it. Other people sharing their opinions and idea on social media. A few popular ones where: Just bury the rat with your hyenas, Harley Quinn. - To all the decent people who's family won't be able to afford a proper burial, just go fuck up a few innocent girls. - I bet the soil will spit him back up after the Devil kicks him out of hell.

Of course, all of these beautiful messages were always followed by the now famous hashtag: Offwithhishead.

The billionaire decided to give a hand to the gang, since the death of Jervis seemed to have brought back hate on them, making the legalization of the Reds harder to realize and also because he was disagreeing with most of the citizens. To do so he offered to Crane that Wayne Enterprise pay for transportation of the gang's member and security at the burial, an offer he gratefully accepted.

December 16th, 13:30 PM, Jackson and Bruce were already at the cemetery, which was surrounded by cops holding off about a hundred people, wearing red clothes, crowns, throwing painted white to red roses into the cemetery and holding up sings with the famous hashtag and other messages like: Can't fight Karma. - Rot in hell. - This is justice.

Staring at the crowd, the large man's face was expressing such disappointment, his partner could not help himself but to approach him and whisper.

"Lighten up, baby. Those are the people we fight for every night."

"Please, don't make this harder than this already is..."

Around twenty minutes later, Crane arrived, all dressed in a black suit, head bowed down. Bruce greeted him and shook his hand.

"I want to thank you again, for this opportunity..." The small man said.

"It's nothing. I'm so sorry for your loss." The billionaire systematically replied.

"Jervis was like a brother..." He was cut short by the pale man.

"Brother to you. I know the feel."

This set an awkward tone and Jonathan went on sitting by himself, away from them. The hero kept glancing at him, the poor man who kept staring at the ground, trying his best to ignore the people who where now chanting.

"Off with his head! Off with his head!"

Harleen arrived a few minutes later, wearing a long dark coat. She was accompanied by a taller woman who had a black hat in which her hair were hidden, a scarf, sunglasses and also a long dark coat. It did not took too long for the vigilante and his ally to recognized Ivy, but they knew that, surely, none of the present citizen would noticed her.

As she got closer, the clown got up and they hugged while she sobbed.

"Harley, you stink. When was the last time you showered?" He immediately stated.

"I don't know, sorry... My place smells like tea and I just can't..."

She switched from crying on him to crying on her for no apparent reason, but no one seemed to mind it.

"I'm Jacks..."

"I know who you are, her cousin, that's nice." Ivy quickly shut him up while holding her friend.

"And you are?"

"Eh... Melissa. We're friends."

14:00 PM, the burial started, they were all standing up near the grave. They placed rabbit paws instead of flowers atop of it and made speeches about their deceased friend.

The vigilante could barely listen to them, he kept looking at the citizens the hired security and policemen were trying to disperse and send home. These heartless people had decided to take time off their day to come to this place and insult a few grieving persons. This was beyond him. He could feel rage building up inside of him, like a fire growing bigger. He felt hatred, so much hatred toward these people, toward everyone.

His partner accidentally slightly brushed his hand with his own and he turned and looked at him. He was surprised to find him staring at the same people, with the usual constant hate that habits his green eyes. The larger man got back to looking at the citizens too, wondering how long it has been since they had became almost the same.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After the funeral, things seemed to have got back to as normal as it could ever be. On the day that followed, the detective spent most of his time spying on the two women in the laboratory. Harleen was opening the cell a little too often according to his liking, sometime for reasons that were not even work related, such as for a hug, to share some food or even no apparent reason at all. However, letting Pamela work freely in the lab was beneficial as it was making them progress toward a cure faster and allowing her to directly test out things on Quinzel. Bruce decided that he would allow this to go on as long as the red head never gets out of the building. He went on linking his phone to the camera and contacted his partner to come and do the same whenever he could as he was presently working with Crane to find new arguments to come up with regarding the legalization of the Reds since many people were using Tetch's death as a counter-argument, stating that rehabilitating those types of criminal could only lead to cases like his. The hero had no idea where to stand on the issue and actually was looking forward hearing Joker's opinion, he somewhat needed guidance.

December 18th, in the afternoon, the clown arrived with his tablet and phone, ready to link up and begin stalking his partners in crime. He pushed a chair next to the larger man, in front of the Batcomputer and sat down.

"Do you think what people are saying is true? You know, about his death?" He asked the pale man.

"Total bollocks." Alfred voiced answered from behind and they both turned to him slightly surprised. "They would have allegedly cremated his body the very next day without doing any autopsy, which is an illegal way to proceed with a corpse after a murder. Furthermore, the driver, Suge Knight, never showed up for questioning after the shooting."

"Plus, he said it himself that even if he knew who the shooter was he'd never snitch." Joker added before Bruce asked in confusion.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Tupac." His butler said. "Who were you talking about?"

"Jervis Tetch."

The jester burst into a loud laughter while the older man chuckled.

"My apologies."

He said somewhat embarrassed upon leaving both men alone.

"Batsy, don't worry about what people are saying, me and Johnny-boy are about to change that."

"I'm not talking about general public opinion." The larger man clarified.

"You really think people like me should never be rehabilitated?" He giggled. "I don't think so. What you're truly wondering is; Are the people of Gotham kind enough to let rehabilitated patients live among them?"

"What do you think?" The vigilante questioned while looking away, ashamed of seeking answers from this man.

"You know very well what I think of the people of Gotham. But don't you worry..." He delicately cupped the hero's jaw turning his attention to himself. "We won't let the loonies run to their death. We'll put an end to the Reds, the gang..."

"What?" He grabbed his partner's wrist. "Are you implying that the Reds actually works?"

"What makes you think that?"

"The way you said it. As if the problem was the citizen, not the rehabilitated patients themselves."

The clown raised an eyebrow and began chuckling.

"Trust me." He said, moving his free hand as a motion to present himself. "I'm the living proof that those things have close to no effects." Bruce let go of him but still had an unconvinced look on his face. "You too are a proof of it." The jester added, giving the billionaire's nose a poke before adding. "So how about you cheer up and I link up?"

"Sure..."

The dark knight sighed as he started plugging the devices to proceed.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" The pale man rapidly questioned before he placed a hand on the other man's thigh and purred his next words. "Maybe I could do a little something to cheer you up."

"Aren't you bothered at all about what happened to Tetch?" Bruce harshly responded.

"To me, it's just another murder."

"He was killed because of his past."

"So...?" The clown asked while smirking.

"Do you not understand? It could've been you!" He shouted, leaning toward his partner. "It might very well be you next time."

"Baby, people have always wanted to kill me. Why so worried now?" He mocked his ally.

"The ones who wanted to end your life and had the resources to do so were mostly high ranked criminals and mob boss, just like you used to be. Now, normal citizens have been added to this group of people who can murder you and they can very well reach you without any resources, because you're nothing more than a citizen too."

"Oh please! I'm the Champion."

"At night, but during the day, you're just Jack and people will recognize you at some point."

"Jackson is nothing more than another persona needed for our façade, he's nothing, no one will ever notice..."

Joker was interrupted by his phone ringing. Taking it out of his pocket, he gave it a glance upon turning to his partner with a puzzled look.

"It's Harley."

The hero quickly activated his hacking device to listen to their call and his partner picked up.

Joker: Yeah?

Harleen: Hatter's case, it makes no sense.

Joker: Nothing makes sense, Harley.

Harleen: I know, but this is worse. What d'ya think about Claire?

Joker: Who?

Harleen: The murderer.

Joker: What am I supposed to think, she did a great vendetta, don't you agree?

Harleen: No. I don't.

Joker: Why did you call? Just get to the point...

Harleen: I think that Claire's innocent.

Joker: What? Why? Evidences point...

Harleen: I want to review them all.

The two men exchanged a curious look before the palest of them slowly burst into a laughter.

Harleen: I'm serious! This makes no sense. They missed something.

Joker: Sure, detective Quinn. Go ahead, I'm convinced GCPD will allow you to get your hands on all the evidence you want.

Harleen: Yeah they will. The problem isn't the pigs, the problem is Dr. Crane.

Joker: Okay, I think flower-girl should slow down the testing on you. I normally wouldn't be one to judge, but I think you're losing it.

Harleen: No, listen to me. Both me and Dr. Crane agrees that Claire's psychological profile doesn't fit the crime she's supposed to have committed. She never was violent and boom now she's supposed to have committed the greatest pancetta ever.

Joker: Vendetta.

Harleen: Whatever. Ya get what I'm saying. I think there's more to this case, she's been framed, but Dr. Crane won't let me investigate. He thinks it's better to leave it to this.

The jester stared at his partner, a confused and amused look on his face. The vigilante seemed as equally puzzled. They stayed silent, as the smaller man did not know what to say anymore.

Harleen: He's hiding something... Ya gotta help me.

Joker: Help you?

Harleen: I can't let him go like this... He deserves justice, he deserves...

She started crying over the phone, the clown rolled his eyes.

Joker: It may sound like I'm hanging up but really...

He hung up and turned to his partner.

"That was strange..."

"Coming from her, nope." Joker giggled. "You have no idea of how delusional this woman can get when emotional. Also, ain't that convenient. Are you convinced now that the Reds doesn't work?"

The larger man simply shrugged before turning to his computer and continuing working. The slender man got up and placed himself behind him, grabbing his shoulders and went on giving the muscular man a massage.

"You're so tense."

"Aren't you? We're stuck in a dead end with a case involving the most dangerous criminals of Gotham, an illegal pills that kills when not consumed, we have no leads..."

"Hush, Batsy... Or the stress will kill you before the Reds does."

"I am very calm. The medication is keeping me from feeling distressed."

"Oh you're calm?" The jester mocked the other man, pinching at his firm muscles. "I must be hallucinating this."

"I am forcing this upon myself, I need to remain focus, I need to remember that we're facing a threat."

The standing man chuckled and bent down to kiss his partner's neck.

"You are so heroic." Moving closer to Bruce's ear he whispered. "And I am so bad."

The dark knight quickly grabbed the man's white hair to pull him away and locked his eyes to his and seriously stated.

"We don't have time for this."

"Are you saying that if we did have time you would?"

"What I'm saying is..."

Both men were interrupted by the phone ringing once more. They let go of one another and the hero grabbed his hacking device again.

"It's Pumpkin-man." He giggled. "What's with people and calling me today? I always knew I was popular but..."

"Just answer it!" He harshly demanded.

Joker: You've reached Mister popular!

Jonathan: Joker?

Joker: In the flesh! What do you want?

Jonathan: I want to talk about Dr. Quinzel. Ever since Jervis's death she's been acting quite disconnected from reality, believing his murder to be some kind of conspiracy.

Joker: Well, isn't it a conspiracy?

The master of fear let out a loud sigh over the phone.

Jonathan: Do not tell me that you believe this too...

Joker: Hey, I was kidding. That's kind of my thing, you know.

Jonathan: Of course...

Joker: Did you really just call to tell me that Harley's crazy?

Jonathan: I also think we should keep an eye on her, I don't fully trust her anymore.

Joker: You're gonna betray her.

Jonathan: No, never. I just think that she's up to something.

Joker: Well, I think it's pretty suspicious of you to call me and demand that I distrust her with you. It's as if you were setting something, planning on...

Jonathan: Dr. Quinzel is a highly valuable member, she's the key to finding a cure. I won't harm her.

Joker: Unless it's by using some kind of brain chip and a Bluetooth, am I right?!

The vigilante watched his partner as he started pacing in circle while arguing with Crane.

Jonathan: It was necessary!

Joker: I'll show you necessary violence! Maybe we should put a chip in your brain and give the remote to Harley!

Jonathan: Why are you so mad?

Joker: You've killed Nygma out of the blue with all of your testing and betraying and now you're out to get my Harley! You think I'll just let you kill Harley?

The hero was surprised by feeling his heart pinching a little upon hearing the way the clown was talking about his former lover.

Jonathan: She won't die, we need her!

Joker: What about after we find a cure?

They both paused.

Jonathan: Joker, I want you to listen to me carefully. Dr. Quinzel will not die. I will not hurt her.

Joker: I want the chip to be deactivated.

After a moment of silence the psychiatrist finally responded.

Jonathan: Fine. Come to the lab, I'll need your help to do so, but if she ever gets out of control, don't blame me.

They hung up and he turned to the sitting man with a large smile.

"Why would you set her free?"

"She'll be less dangerous on her own than under Scarecrow's control, don't you think?"

"You could've arranged for me to be in control."

"Darling, I'm in control of Harley and you're with me, which makes you in control of her too."  
"You consider what's yours to be mine?"

"Romantic, isn't it?"

Bruce turned his attention to the floor while letting a slight chuckle out. He rapidly snapped back to his normal disciplined self and spoke up.

"I'll be watching you through the lab's system. Now that I've install new cameras, nothing can get past me."

"Aye aye Captain! And I'll leave my phone and electronics for you to work on."

He turned around, but surprised the detective as he turned once more and almost jumped at him, grabbing his face and kissing his lips quickly while giggling upon truly leaving afterward. He didn't have time nor wanted to push him away, he somewhat laughed as well and went back to working after his partner had left.

Nothing could explain the slightly lighter than usual feeling he had developed toward life recently, not even the Reds could have been to blame. Deep down, he kind of knew what had been happening to him and that Joker was the cause of it, but could not bring himself to find the right words to explain it. It simply felt great to lose his greatest enemy to gain a friend that completed him in ways no one ever could before. He kept smiling to himself, unable to believe the situation. Although they were stuck in a dead end for now, it was as if he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, the case being solved and him, him staying by his side, for good. Happiness at arms reach, it seemed to good to be true.

Later, Bruce watched closely as Crane and his partner had the woman asleep and attached to a table as they went on opening a small part of her skull to proceed operating. Pamela had both hands against the glass of her cell as she was watching the procedure in fear, unable to do anything.

The hero decided he had to remind the gang that he had his eyes on them and contacted Crane's phone as Batman. Asking him what was the procedure about although he knew. Truthfully, he was seeking lies from the man. He got nothing but the truth, knowledge he already possessed. They had installed a chip to keep the blonde from doing anything that would doom them to losing the Reds and their new gained rights.

Everything went well, Harleen awoke an hour later and Joker tested the Bluetooth, the chip had been successfully deactivated.

The caped crusader thought he was going to have his partner back by now, but unfortunately Jonathan informed Joker that he already needed him for another task. He asked of him some help to start elaborating a voting system that could work via the net and that everything would be explained to him the next day during a meeting. He was waiting for Quinzel to be completely recovered and conscious to participate to this one. Unfortunately for the hero, the meeting was to happen at Crane's place, which means that he would have to break into the pale man's apartment in order to use the tablet and log into his glasses.

December 19th, 21:08 PM, Bruce glanced at his surroundings before getting on his knee and starting on working the lock of the door. He was abruptly stopped and swiftly stood up as the neighbor casually exited her apartment. She gave the billionaire a slight smile and a nod while closing and locking her door. She began walking as if she had seen nothing and upon getting past him she whispered.

"He keeps a spare key in his mail box..."

The larger man headed to the ground floor and searched his partner's full mailbox. His eyes widened as he felt the little piece of medal and grabbed it to quickly run back up.

Upon entering he directly began searching for the tablet, plugged it, sat down and logged in.

He only had five minutes spare before the meeting.

Audio and visual loaded at the same time. The first image he got was one of her, sitting on the other side of the kitchen table, pouring Pepsi in a glass containing Gummy Bears and Skittles.

Harleen: I call this one Joy in a Tar pit.

Joker: Fascinating.

Harleen: The Skittles and Gummy Bears are frozen, that's what's giving it the kick!

Joker: The kick.

She went on drinking some of it while he chuckled. He turned his attention to Crane. He locked his eyes on Quinzel for a moment before asking.

Jonathan: How's your head?

Harleen: Fine.

Jonathan: As you might not know, Joker and I have been working on a voting system. We ended up simply taking the information of the most recent electoral list of voters and inserting the data in our own system. The way it would work is simple, a person creates an account based on his real name, birth information and address, if it matches one of the person's profile the account is successfully created and this citizen will be allowed to anonymously vote. Do you know for what?

The blonde scratched her head for a moment until her face became clear, she knew.

Harleen: Criminals! They're voting on a criminal's fate.

Joker: What? We're gonna let the citizens vote for justice!? That's moronic!

Jonathan: No. The Batman has been acting on his own for a long time and without him we would've surely discovered the Reds and a cure alongside sooner, because people seem to be more open-minded toward us than he is.

Joker: People are open-minded? Sure, just look at Jervis!

Harleen: It's not as it seems! Claire's been framed, Jervis has been killed for some other purpose! I just know it!

Jonathan: Dr. Quinzel, please...

Joker: Not this again! Both of you shut up! So we're gonna let the imbecilic population of Gotham rule its own city?

Harleen: This has never been done before, we need to try.

Joker: The real law, the judges, the police, they won't let you.

Jonathan: It's the entire population against them, what can they do?

The jester glanced down for a long moment before turning back to Quinzel awaiting for her to speak. She moved her hands across the table, catching one of his and holding it firmly.

Harleen: You're no criminal anymore, we won't put ya up on the list for votes. I won't allow it.

Jonathan: Well, no matter what you think, the system is almost done. Nothing can stop us now.

He stated strangely staring at Quinn.

Jonathan: In honor of Jervis Tetch, I am naming the project with the name he had proposed...

Harleen: Project Malach...

Jonathan: Yes... Now, I'll need more of your help, Joker, to complete the entire system and work on a way to present it in the media. As for Dr. Quinzel, keep on testing and working.

Joker: Gotham needs a ruler...

The jester whispered upon getting up and heading towards the psychiatrist's computers and all the files they had been working on for the last twenty-four hours. From behind, the woman's voice reached him.

Harleen: You're no leader...

He rapidly turned around, the hero considered this must have angered him, yet he was surprise to find the blonde standing up, towering a sitting Scarecrow who would not even look her in the eye.

Harleen: Keep this in mind, this is my gang, my project, all of what's happening right now is because of me. I am Malach.

Jonathan: I know...

Harleen: Ya don't control me anymore!

Joker: Harley?

She simply put up a hand to show that she would not address him at the moment.

Harleen: Don't give orders without my consent first.

She then walked to the door, turning around one last time upon leaving to blow a kiss to the pale man.

Joker: What was that about?

Jonathan: Don't ask me, you're the one who insisted on setting her free.

Bruce spent a good portion of the night watching the men working until almost morning when the insane psychiatrist put all the coding and information necessary in a USB and sent the jester to the lab to start setting the hole thing up with the more efficient computer they had there. He decided to head to the Batcave, now that he had seen most of how the program was build all he had to do was wait for it to be put online to hack into it and deactivate it.

6:47 AM, he was in front of the Batcomputer, the system still was not up. He decided to take a nap before work and he would simply keep on eye on it from work. If it was to finally be put online he would contact Alfred and give him the directive to disable it.

15:57 PM, finally, it was up and running, but still unknown to the population. The billionaire was alone in his office, so he immediately contacted his butler giving him all the instructions and sat back awaiting the results.

After a long 40 minutes of nothing happening to the website linked to the program he received a call from Alfred.

Alfred: Sir, I cannot hack into the system. You must have forgotten to tell me about something.

Bruce: No, I haven't... Something new must've came up...

Alfred: What shall we do?

Bruce: Near the Batcomputer, you should find a small piece of paper on which a link is written. Go to this place and ask the following question; how does project Malach works?

He waited as he heard the older man typing.

Alfred: There are no answers.

Bruce: Try; how does our online security system works?

Once more it took a moment for the butler to give him the response.

Alfred: It says why don't you ask Joker about it...

Bruce: It figured us out. Thank you Alfred, I'll be contacting Joker...

Alfred: But his phone is here.

Bruce: I... Are they still in the laboratory?

Alfred: All except Crane.

Bruce: Thank you.

He hung up and knew he could not contact the lab from where he was without being retraced. He would have to wait the end of the day, leave work and contact his partner then. However, he had a hard time figuring out a way to have to conversation without raising any suspicions toward him, it's not as if he was alone in that place and surely, a person as careful as Crane was probably recording every call that was made to and from the lab.

The hero had to be honest with himself, he would have to wait around for the gang to finalize and popularize their project before being able to take it down. Then again, he was placing himself in the same situation as when he wanted to keep Poison Ivy under his guard, showing the public that he was disagreeing with the Reds, creative mass panic, risking it's cancellation and what not. He could not wait to see his ally again and was truly hoping that of all people he would have an idea on how to deal with this.

The next few days were spent by keeping an eye on the pale man, impatiently waiting for him to exit this lab for good and be free of the gang.

To popularize Project Malach, Jonathan simply made a video that went viral in which he explains to whole thing.

 _We have created a hero that you citizen will be able to control through the power of democracy. We're ready to either rival or work with the Batman._

[...]

 _You are able to vote against anyone breaking the law, choosing their fate between Arkham Asylum or Blackgate prison. You can also vote to free a person. The total of vote in favor of imprisonment in both places must be 70% or above and the total of vote to free an inmate must be 90% or above. Since we know that not all citizen will vote, there will be a one month time limit set per individuals once 40% of you will have voted for the case in question and we will take in consideration the final result only if when the time limit is reached 65% of the population have voted._

[...]

 _Yes, you can change your mind and vote once more, but it still count as one vote only in total._

[...]

 _We are all on this list as one individual. If you disagree with our method and disagree with our hero you can vote against me and all my allies and we will obey to your decision. However I must inform you that locking us in will put a definite end to Project Malach._

[...]

 _You cannot use our website to make any accusations, you still have to contact GCPD first. We are working from their criminal data and won't ever create our own._

[...]

 _Although we do not make accusation nor create our own data, the Batman is on the list._

[...]

 _Every mission will be recorded and broadcast to the public afterward._

To the detective, this was pure madness and nothing could express the level of disappointment he was feeling upon seeing that although the population had many different opinions toward Project Malach, most of them seemed to be agreeing with it. GCPD kept stating that they would not answer to the public and will keep on working by themselves.

On the next day the video went viral a case already had a time limit set to it with 51% people already voting. 68% being in favor of the liberation of Claire Williams for the murder of Jervis Tetch.

December 22th, 19:12 PM, the dark knight had been watching the insanity unfold for the last few days unable to figure out what to do. Yet a glimpse of hope appeared as he watched Joker being set free from the gang, his work, for now, was done.

Without any time to spare the billionaire ran to one of his car and drove toward the laboratory, ready to scout the sector in order to find the pale man.

After only thirty minutes of searching he spotted him, in the dark, wearing a long dark coat, walking alone in an almost empty street. The larger man immediately parked ahead of him and exited his vehicle.

"Hello, mon chéri!" The clown said with enthusiasm as he approached the other man. "I was just heading to your place."

"I know, get in the car, we need to get to work."

The former prince of crime giggled at what the hero had just said upon reaching him and kissing his cheek.

"Work on what?"

Bruce checked his surroundings before whispering.

"We need to stop Project Malach."

"It'll stop itself." The jester laughed. "You and I both know this is a moronic system that won't ever work. How about we let it fail by itself and enjoy tonight's weather?" He grabbed the man's muscular arm. " Take a walk with me, Brucie."

"They're about to free an insane murderer, I can't let them do that. What if she hurts other people? Or herself?"

The smaller man was leading them to a busier street with shops and restaurant. The worst place to be having this conversation.

"You're an influential man. Talk about it to the public. Maybe Project Malach should only allow the public to free criminals who's evidences aren't as crystal clear as for Claire Williams?"

"I don't want to change Project Malach, I want to end it."

"It'll end by itself."

They had reached the busy street, it was a beautiful evening. It was snowing slightly making the city quieter and although it was a cold night, there was no wind.

"Wanna get some food?" The small man asked.

"How much time do you think it will take for the project to fail by itself? How many people will be hurt? How many mistake will be made until then?"

"Oh... you're still going at it." He responded seemingly blasé.

"And how do you think their system even works?"

"Who knows? Knowing these criminals, the person who created the basic coding for the system has probably been silenced, bringing the secret alongside."

The hero stood silent, knowing what his partner meant and accepting that taking down Project Malach would require a significant amount of time regardless of the procedure taken. They were stopped at a red light where Joker was simply looking around while scratching his chin.

"You know... I would really enjoy eating ravioli... so how about..?"

"Jack." The larger man interrupted and light green eyes locked their stare on him. "I don't think this is working out..."

"Excuse me!?" The pale man abruptly screamed out while stepping back, dragging everyone's attention on them. "I have been making so much effort! What more do you need!? Do I have to wear cute little cat ears for you to lo..."

"I was talking about work!" The beyond embarrassed man replied quickly.

"Ouf..." The other man sighed in relief while grabbing his chest. "You're still going at it..."

"Yeah, as you know, I am." He said upon laughing uncomfortably and stating to one of the closest citizen staring at them. "He's a funny guy..."

They kept on walking as the smaller man could not help himself from laughing at the situation while the larger man whispered.

"If we weren't in such a public place I'd punch you in the face."

"I know!" He replied with tears from the laughter in his eyes. "This remind me, totally unrelated subject, do you want something for Christmas?"

"What?"

"You know, Christmas, happens once every year..."

"I know, what I meant was..."

Both men were interrupted by Jackson's phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket, glanced at it and rolled his eyes.

"Pumpkin-king..."

The detective knew he'd have to listen to this call, with no hesitation he entered a seemingly empty alley pulling the clown along with him. He lowered himself to place his ear next to his ally's and waited for the man to answer.

Joker: What do you want?

Jonathan: I... I need help...

The hero could make out what he was saying without any problem, but the psychiatrist was interrupted by a loud, hard to identify, sound.

Joker: What was that?

Jonathan: The door won't hold...

Some heavy banging noises began ringing through the phone.

Jonathan: Stop! Stop it! The door won't hold...

Joker: Where are you? What is this?

Jonathan: Stop it! Let's talk, let's just talk!

Joker: Where are you!?

Jonathan: Th-the bunker... It's...

The knocking stopped for a moment.

Jonathan: Dr. Quinzel is trying to break in and she...

The clown burst into a laughter while the banging happened again.

Joker: Just kick her or something.

All they could hear for a moment was heavy breathing and the door getting hit. Then it stopped again for a moment.

Jonathan: It's about Claire again, I think she's gonna kill me. I think she's armed. I won't make it. Stop her.

Joker: Say you're scared.

Jonathan: What?

Joker: Say you're scared of Harley and I'll help.

Jonathan: Fine. I'm scared of her, just come quick.

The man hung up and turned to the vigilante.

"I guess I'm needed again, mind giving me a lift?"

"Let's get your suit first."

"No time, plus it's just Harley, I'm fine." The jester reassured him.

"I'll get back to your apartment and watch through your glasses as quickly as I can."

"Sure, whatever."

They ran as fast as possible to the car and headed to the bunker where Bruce dropped his partner far enough for him to not be seen and lost no time to drive to the man's apartment.

Upon arriving, he sat down, open the tablet and logged in. Everything loaded up, Crane was sitting on the bunker's floor, nose and mouth heavily bleeding and Harleen, oddly shirtless at the moment, was standing up in front of him.

Harleen: I don't care what any of you think, Claire's innocent.

Jonathan: I've always agreed with you...

Harleen: Than why won't ya obey!?

Joker: Harley... Calm down...

Jonathan: This case is a perfect example for our cause, it shows how...

Harleen: Is this really more important than Jervis's life!

Jonathan: Well, unlike some other people, I'll let you know that...

He spat some blood upon continuing his sentence.

Jonathan: My life is on the line too. I need to Reds to be legalized beyond anything else.

Joker: Well that's what we're working on doing, so what's the problem here.

Only Crane turned to him while he spoke, the woman kept glaring at the sitting man.

Harleen: Honey, my shirt and coat are on the floor near the door. Please, go get them for me.

Jonathan nodded to him, showing that from now on he truly wanted things to go as smoothly as possible with the blonde. The jester turned around and walked toward the exit. When he arrived at the door he stopped and took a moment to look down, surely considering that his partner was probably watching with him at this point. The detective's jaw dropped as he stared at the broken door that had nothing else than several boot marks on it. Quinn had kicked through a bunker door with regular boots. He was amazed, and theorized that maybe some of the testing had been beneficial to her in unexpected ways. It was an incredible sight.

The pale man finally returned with the woman's clothes. She put all of them on before searching her coat pockets and getting a bag of Reds out of one.

Harleen: Look at this, Dr. Crane. Do you know to who it belonged?

Jonathan: Jervis?

Harleen: Yes and now it's yours.

She violently threw the bag at him.

Harleen: See it's a gift from me, because you're life matters so much. In fact ya matter so much to me, I'll allow ya to take these on a sweet vacation anywhere away from Gotham.

Jonathan: You're kicking me out?

Harleen: Now go. Come back when you've taken them all and need more. He's so very precious, don't you think?

It took a slight moment for the taller man to realize she was addressing him.

Joker: Yes, so precious...

Jonathan: You're making a mistake you can't...

Harleen: Leave!

The bleeding man got up with difficulty, placed the bag in his pocket and started walking slowly toward the exit. He stopped a moment and whispered.

Jonathan: You've killed us all...

Surprisingly enough, the blonde did nothing beside smirking. When the man was gone, Joker did not even had the time to place a word that Harley was already speaking.

Harleen: One year later and it's finally mah time to shine! Now, I want ya to go home and start working on a communicator for us to get in contact with B-man.

Joker: What? How am I supposed to do that?

She rolled her eyes.

Harleen: Look, I know ya two are like this!

She showed him her crossed fingers before adding.

Harleen: Ya'll find a way. I wouldn't even be surprised if y'actually have his real phone number.

She chuckled and they headed to the broken door.

Joker: What about you?

Harleen: I'm up to solve this pancetta. Also Imma need to hire someone to repair the bunker door, thanks to Mister I'm too scared to open the door.

Joker: All right... Until next time.

He said as he turned and walked away, glancing over his shoulder from time to time to see her heading in an opposite direction. He saw the opportunity to take off his glasses and turn the camera to his face, showing off an unsure worried expression to the vigilante who was sharing the same feelings at the moment.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's** **note**

I want to thank you all for your patience.  
I know that updates has been incredibly slow lately for I have unfortunately been so busy in real life and I'm afraid I have to bring bad news. I think that next chapter will take as much if not even more time to come out than this one, but it will come out. I'll never abandon the story.

To Jinx,  
Thank you very much for all the compliments, it warms my heart and I'm so happy you figured out a part of Malach's meaning. Yes, it's intended to mean messenger, but Malach also means angel and yes this is a clue to something that had been hinted at ever since Chapter 2.

To all, I want to thank you for the support, thank you again for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Bonne lecture!

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

December 22th, 23:48 PM, both men were in the cave, laughing, almost celebrating. The pale man went on grabbing his partner's hand pulling on him while giggling.

"Like hell that we're going to make a communicator so she can reach you. C'mon, why don't we take care of Harley now and finally end it?"

"Not just yet." The detective responded, pulling back. "Harley's our best way of making Poison Ivy actually work on a cure, until then we'll just keep her from doing much damage."

"What if we take Harley hostage?" The clown suggested upon sitting on the larger man's lap. "It's not like Weed-Lady could use the media or project Malach against us, this would lead to her own arrest. She's not suppose to be here, remember?"

"I think that letting them believe in a freedom they do not possess is the best motivation I can give them. We need this cure, fast."

"Good lord, somebody has been reading some Machiavelli..."

The vigilante smirked as a response and went on adding another reason.

"I also want to investigate on Amanda Waller, I'd like to see if she has some sort of connection to all this."

"Yeah..." Joker scratched his head. "I could picture her having a minor role in the case."

"In fact, she was supposed to come to Gotham today, but it seem that everything has got delayed and she couldn't simply take a private jet all due to weather inconveniences."

"Strange, it's not like we've had any terrible snow storms or anything."

"I know." He said upon softly pushing the other man off him to access his computer. "I suspect that..."

His phrase got cut short by the jester's phone ringing loudly, he glanced at it and chuckled.

"My supreme gangster boss."

Bruce rolled his eyes wandering what stupidity might be keeping them from working while taking out his device to listen to the call.

Joker: What is it, Harley?

Harley: Finally found some news channel to give me a spot to go live.

Joker: Wait, why? When?

Harley: In a few minutes and it's related to another project I had about an enemy me and Dr. Crane didn't have in common.

Joker: Let me get this straight... You're making some personal fight of yours public.

Harley: Yeah! Well, it needs to get out there.

Joker: This is such a bad idea, who's the enemy?

Harley: I'm going live in one minute! Quick, open your TV on that news channel with the logo that looks like a queer peafowl!  
Joker: NBC?

She hung up, the clown turned to his partner who had already opened his television on the right program and raised the volume. They only got a glimpse of the reporter's presentation.

[...] _first time on television since her recovery to address a top secret project even more controversial than the one she is currently running; here's Harleen Quinzel._

The camera cut to a shot of the blonde sitting behind a desk with files and paper in front of her. Her long hair were completely free, yet well coiffed, wearing a tight black blouse and a red butterfly tie.

 _Greetings everybody! Surprisingly enough, I'm not here to discuss project Malach, well kind of, but... Well, you'll see! For a long time now I've been in some fight with a very important person, important in America, and this person is very powerful, y'see? I thought I could keep this all to myself, but now I'm realizing that I need your opinion, I need your permission to go on._

The larger man turned to Joker hoping for some clarification, but he only shrugged showing he had no idea what fight the woman was referring to.

 _For months, if not years I've been gathering as much information and proofs to back up what I'm about to tell ya now._

 _So, Gotham, do ya know Amanda Waller? Because I do, personally. She's a tyrant, a terrorist and she works for your government!_

"Dear friends, today's the day the clown died..." The pale man whispered while placing his head between his hands in utter deception.

 _I've met her while she enrolled me against my will in a program called the Suicide Squad, but don't be fooled by his name that could perfectly fit a summer action movie that gets rich off merchandise, this is one of the most messed up program ever. Basically, she kidnaps a bunch of criminals, like me, put a bomb inside their neck... Hey technician, show the photos... Good..._

A square in the left corner of the screen showing a series of old and more recent photos of the girl's scar on her neck appeared while she continued.

 _We'd have tasks such as assassination, destruction, stuff a government should never do to his own country and that's why she chose criminals instead of using agents of, let's say, the CIA, so they could blame the mayhem on us later. If we were to disobey or fail, we'd either be kill by the neck-bomb or arrested for the mission. I've managed to record small parts of some missions using my victim's phone and hiding the SIM card afterward. It's not much, but Waller has got more eyes than even God! Other members of the squad's face has been blurred in order to protect their anonymity and I invite them to contact me and come forward one day to help me expose Waller. What you are about to see is very violent, very shocking. Play it, technician!_

Although the videos weren't bringing any news to both men, they were quite amazing. Containing so much proofs that those thugs were acting against their will. Some videos were replayed with the volume enhance and you could clearly identify Amanda's voice through the communicators some of the members had.

"Impressive..." The vigilante stated.

"The slave becomes the master."

"Not only that, but this means the Reds project has been existing for years."

"How so?"

"She would've never tried to expose the Suicide Squad while completely insane."

"So you think she's been on Reds for what... Maybe two or three years?" The jester asked completely puzzled.

"Not the Reds, but prototypes. You don't end up with such a complex formula in one try." The pale man went on laughing, and the detective questioned him. "What's so funny?"

"It makes everything worse! Think about it, Ivy literally worked for years to find a way for Harley to exit Arkham and finally be free and be with her forever or whatever, but instead she gets back stab because her little girlfriend decides to form a new gang. She escapes from her, angry, only to get kidnap a year later in order to put an end to her useless years of work. I'm officially giving Harley the honorable award for biggest jerk in the world!"

"I don't think she meant for all of this to happen..." Bruce responded before the videos ended and the blonde was back on screen.

 _I'll be making all of these videos accessible on the website so ya can analyze it all ya want, since I know it's a lot to take and ya might be skeptical about whether it's true or not. I've also successfully accessed, thanks to some good friend of mine, a few reports concerning abduction of important citizen throughout America, all ordered by Waller. Those will be posted online too. I'd also love it if Gotham's greatest detective, that's ya Bats, could hold on to all these. I fully trust ya with this case and I know that the people of Gotham trust that if ya were to find out I was lying y'wouldn't hesitate to lock me up, project Malach or not. I'll be waiting and of course, y'know where to find me, always do._

"How convenient!" The clown commented.

 _My message is simple, I'm not out to arrest ya, Waller, I'm out to let the people of my city know what's going on, I'm out to protect them from ya. I want ya to know that here in Gotham we believe in real democracy, we will not tolerate a rise in kidnapping after this message, we will blame ya if anyone close to me or related to project Malach goes missing. We know what kind of monster y'are and this no longer should be tolerated. I believe in democracy, I don't believe that terrorists, such as yourself, should have such an important role in our government. I may not be able to stop ya from damaging this entire country, but Malach will protect this city, Batman will protect this city. Speaking of him, don't even dare try to destroy him whether physically or by revealing information that might lead to his true identity! Y'don't want any problem with us, it's fine, just stay out of this city, leave my people alone!_

After this intense rant, the hero actually caught himself nodding in agreement, to the surprise of his partner. The seconds of silence that followed where heavy in seriousness and hopes for a better Gotham. It was glorious up until Harleen slapped her hands on the desk and smiled upon speaking.

 _Th-th-that's all folks!_

The small man burst into an intense laughter.

"She's dead, baby! Bon débarras!"

"No, we need to protect her. We need her."

"What do you say we do? She just exposed an enormous government secret. Trust me, it's over."

As he was speaking, the hero had already started gearing up, completely ignoring his ally's opinion on the matter.

"Go to your place, put your suit on and join us at the lab." He ordered the pale man who slightly lost his smile.

"I shouldn't. According to the plan we shouldn't already be working together. According to the plan Malach hasn't even started yet."

"She needs your protection."

"Tell you what. Give me the link to access Eddie's web page and with it I should be able to find enough information to get into government's communication and keep an eye on what Waller is planning to do with Harley-girl."

The dark knight had finished suiting up, he thought for only a few seconds upon responding.

"Fine. Keep me updated."

Both men went on quickly leaving the cave and heading toward different directions.

December 23th, 01:23 AM, it was a freezing night only made worse by the strong winds that never quite seemed to catch any break and simply went on unceasingly. He had ran into Harleen as she was making her way back to the laboratory. Without being noticed, he had followed her watching over her in a state that closely resemble paranoia. It was as if every car that crossed her path seemed to slow down, that each windows were decorated by the dark silhouette of a government agent and that she could have suddenly fallen to the ground at any moment, hit by a hidden sniper. Batman felt there was no way the blonde could win against Amanda Waller and all he could do was delay the inevitable

She entered the lab and he got down from the roof where he had been hiding and knocked. The door opened.

"That was fast."

They went inside and she lead him to the room in which Pamela's cell was located. The laboratory was a cold place and the red head truly did not seemed appreciative of it. She was sitting on her bed, holding her knees to her chest, under the two thin blanket she had. As soon as she saw the detective, she turned her attention to the ground wishing to ignore his presence. The younger woman headed toward a small table and placed her bag atop of it.

"So in there, there's all the files, videos, photos, everything as I promised." The vigilante went on grabbing the bag, but was stopped by her hand. "I'm keeping the bag, use something else like eh... We got garbage bags here."

He served himself and as he was placing the evidences in the bag the blonde spoke up.

"So I was wondering if I could get a communicator, y'know, so I could reach ya?"

"No." He coldly answered. "I've got my eyes on you, in here, 24/7, you don't need a communicator for me to know what's happening."

"So much for trusting me. Speaking of which, I need your help. I need ya to get me clearance to access the evidences on Claire Williams' case."

"Why?"

"Why, because she's innocent!"

"No, she isn't. I've investigated this case myself, I know she's guilty."

"But you're wrong! Everyone is! I just know it!" She went on hysterically stating. "Just give me a chance to prove it."

"Out of the question." He harshly responded, annoyed that she is once again bringing this case up. "You have bigger issues to take care of anyway."

"Like what?" She dumbly asked and the man simply could not repress a sigh of disappointment.

"You've just declared war on one of the most dangerous member of the American government."

"Oh yeah... Well, I'll be fine, I can defend myself."

"You're planning on defending yourself alone? You won't make it. Know that I always keep an eye on you and still believe that I'm not enough to protect you from her."

"So what? I'll be fine."

"What about Joker?"

"What about him?!" She quickly asked with a sudden worrying expression on her face.

"He could help protecting you."

Harleen glanced at her girlfriend who did the same with an amused smirk upon starting to laugh at the idea. The larger man could hardly understand what was so funny about all this.

"I think you should all stick together for now." He continued. "Harleen, you've just put yourself and your friends in a very dangerous situation."

"Yeah, guilty..." She said while the detective was taking the bag and started walking to the front door. "... unlike some other girl."

He stopped and turned his head, looking at Quinzel over his shoulder. Her arms were cross and she had that proud smug face for some reason that was beyond him.

"I don't even know what you're trying to achieve." He stated upon exiting.

Before heading back to the cave, the hero took the decision to make a quick stop at his partner's apartment in order to verify what he had discovered so far and request his help for Quinn's protection. Stealthily, he entered by the bedroom window and walked through the dark rooms until he reached the living room in which the man was sitting on a chair, laptop on his knees, his attention on the opposite direction of the dark knight.

"Hey, Brucie!"

"What have you discovered so far?" The large man asked upon approaching the jester, not surprised that he had somewhat felt his presence.

"She's absolutely fine. So far, Waller seems to be taking her threat very seriously and has been moving her meetings outside of the city."

"I wonder what kind of contacts she could have made to possess such leverage against Amanda Waller."

"The clan of ninjas?" Joker theorized.

"You mean the League of assassins? Their ideologies are more extreme than Malach's, plus I haven't seen Ra's al Ghul nor members of the League being active in Gotham for quite a while now."

"Maybe he's trying to get back in, by appealing to the most important movement of the moment, which would be Malach."

"Could she even have contacts with the Court of owls?" The detective thought out loud.

"What if she just met one of them crazy conspiracy nerds, but this one truly was on to something?"

Both men stood silent for moment, reflecting on all the possibilities and new leads they would have to follow in order to uncover how Harleen had become so powerful.

"Anyhow, I'd like you to give me all the sources to the information you have discovered so far. I'll be continuing watching Waller from now on." Batman said, breaking the silence. "As for you, I want you to head to the lab and stay close to her. I want you to protect her."

"Waste of time! It would be better for me to stay with you. You and I, together, we can figure all of this out way quicker than if you're alone." The clown protested.

"I agree that we're more efficient as team, however Harleen is the key to all of this and we need her alive. Working together in this moment would just turn this investigation into a race in which we'd have to solve everything upon her death, and this may be sooner than what we could expect."

The pale man sighed in annoyance, remaining silent for a minute or so. He then placed his laptop on the floor upon getting up and turning to his partner.

"You know what? I may no longer be a killer, but I wouldn't want her death to be wasted in a government assassination. A woman of this new found legendary status deserves something grandiose and unforgettable."

He proceeded to make his way past the caped crusader who simply nodded unable to find a right answer to this uncanny and unlikely compliment the man had just made toward Harley. While the smaller man was packing a few things for the days he was about to spend at the laboratory, Bruce was making notes of all the information his ally had found out about Waller so far. They rejoined in the living room, shared a kiss upon leaving one another for an undetermined amount of time.

4:12 AM, he's in the cave, a screen focused on his partner who unexpectedly seemed to be collaborating to find a cure with Pamela. While glancing at it from time to time, he had started reviewing the evidences about the Suicide Squad. Unfortunately for him, he had to come to one conclusion; Joker was right, analyzing all of this by himself would take too much time, although he hated to admit it to himself, he needed help. Considering he had to go to work in the morning, he decided Alfred and Lucius Fox could surely give him a hand with all of this.

In the morning, he wasted no time to explain the situation to both men and went on assigning tasks to them; Fox would be taking care of verifying the legitimacy of the files while Bruce and Alfred would be analyzing the content.

Many days of constant investigation lead the detective to a surprising theory. He started believing that maybe the evidences in itself were enough for Quinn to have power against Waller. Not only was the content highly incriminating, but there was so much of it he actually was somewhat in wonder of how Amanda was not already in trial for her crimes.

Both Alfred and Fox was agreeing with him that Harleen probably had only one or two contacts max to pull this off and all they did was retrieve governmental information. The hero thought it was funny to a certain level as his partner had already theorized that there was a possibility that this woman's ally was nothing but a lonely intelligent nerd.

He went on sharing all of this new knowledge whenever he could get a moment alone with Jackson at work. Solving this case was already a challenge in itself, but doing so with so little contact was even worse. Furthermore, the pale man was not bringing good news from his side. Beside the fact that they were testing many things on Quinzel, they still had not even came close to finding a cure. Plus, Joker complained that she kept wasting their time by meeting officers, private detectives and what not in order to try and access the evidences from Claire Williams' case. The bat knew this was problematic for he could see her leaving the lab, bringing the small man with her, for many hours, every single day and all that for something so useless. No matter what the jester would tell her, nothing could convince her that the cure, Waller, project Malach was more important at the moment. As the vigilante thought things could not get messier, his ally went on telling him another bad news, whenever Harleen would get a tip that Batman was being active in the city and therefore not in front of a screen, she would give a disguise and allow Pamela to roam Gotham freely.

Although this was quite a lot of problems to solve, Bruce had already formed some sort of uncanny idea to solve half of them. He told the clown to hang in there and that he would proceed on dealing with almost everything in the next twenty four hours.

December 31th, 19:45 PM, the caped crusader is knocking on the laboratory door that opens shortly after.

"I wasn't expecting ya..." The blonde said with a confused look. "What do y'want?"

"Who is it?" The pale man asked in the distance upon approaching and happily shouting. "Hey, Batsy!"  
The dark knight walked past them, ignoring his friend's greeting. He turned to Quinzel and started speaking.

"I know you allow Ivy out of her cell whenever you think I'm not looking. I am always looking, Harleen, and I suggest you never do the same again or I will take her to the cave and she will remain there until she finds a cure."

"What?!" She reacted. "If you're always looking, then ya know she never did anything wrong out there! So why are ya being so controllive?"

"Controllive isn't a word, Harley." The jester lowly pointed out.

"Why can't ya trust me, Bats?"

"It's not about you, it's about her." He responded, turning his attention on the meta human who was surprisingly asleep at the time.

"She's not a monster."

The woman continued, but he ignored her, caught up in his thought for he had something else to tell her, something that would possibly shock his partner.

"I have done you a favor, Harleen. I know you've been wasting most of your time searching for a way to access evidences regarding Williams' case and I know I can't convince you to stop. Therefore I successfully convinced the GCPD to grant you access to it. It's time you move on."

"Seriously?"

She asked in a relieved breath, eyes wide and with a slight smile. Joker was standing behind her, giving the hero a baffled expression, moving his arms around in a sad attempt to express all the questions he had at once.

"You will get to investigate, but keep in mind that any damage done to the material that doesn't lead to more information will be considered to be tempering with evidences and you could very easily end up in jail. Be careful."

"Thanks, anyway..."

She said, turning her attention to her coat which she grabbed and started putting on. The pale man went on doing the same, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

"This is personal, I'm going alone."

Just like Batman, she left in a hurry.

He had waited longer than he had expected in the Batcave for his partner to join him, but finally there he was, coming down stair with a bottle of champagne in hand.

"Batsy, you have no idea how far I had to go to find an open store that still had one of these. Oh! And the things I had to do, let's not get into it..."

"Did you really think I had no champagne in my manor?" He replied chuckling.

"I don't mean to insult you but I think you mispronounced – Joker, you're an amazing human being and I'm very thankful for the champagne. Also, you look very handsome." He went on laughing at his own pathetic impression of Bruce upon sitting next to him and asking. "So do you have any glass in the cave?"

"We don't have time to celebrate, we finally have moment together, we need to work."

"We already missed Christmas because of work, I'm not missing New Year for the same reason." He complained.

"I agree with him."  
Alfred's voice surprises them. Both men turned their attention on the butler who was approaching them holding on to a tray on which there was two empty flute glass.

"With all the good things you do for Gotham every single day, it would be more than fine for you to just lose it on New Year."

"I'm not keeping you two from celebrating, but I won't be joining."

The clown rolled his eyes, exited the chair and went up opening the bottle sending the plug somewhere far and dark in the cave. He served Alfred and himself a drink and the older man waited for the pale one to take a sip upon taking one for himself.

The larger man suddenly addressed them.

"Files and a video has just been uploaded to the Malach website."

"Play the video." Joker said.

It loaded for a few seconds and then a picture of a very depressed Harleen sitting at a desk in an empty room appeared and she went on speaking with a broken voice, unable to look at the camera.

 _Claire Williams' case has just been reopened, because I just found some proof that someone else was involved in the murder of Jervis Tetch. All of the evidences I have found are in the new files I just posted._  
 _For now I want y'all to help me find this murderer. For some reason, he's dangerous and he needs to be stopped as fast as possible. You've known him as Joker, today he's Jackson White. Photos of him as been uploaded too._  
 _What does this means for the Reds, I don't know yet. But maybe his problem wasn't insanity, maybe he's just evil._

"Traitor!" The jester shouted in anger. "She killed Eddie, kicked Crane out of Gotham and with Tetch's death saw an opportunity to end me without having to murder me! She wants it all to herself!" He stared directly at the vigilante who was looking back at him silent and in shock. "She's trying to frame me! She framed me!"

"I'll need to see this for myself..." The detective whispered perplexed.

"She knows where I live." He went on throwing his glass away and screaming. "Oh God! My suit! Francesca! We have to go, now!"

"Francesca?"

"My annoying neighbor, I... It's a long story, we need to go and you can't come as Batman."

The hero knew they had no time to lose and although he was full of questions, he simply got up and started running to his garage with his ally. They jumped in a car and the small man went on going through his phone, his list of contacts for some reason.

"What's going on with your neighbor?"

"Why do you think she never actually called the cops to complain about the noise? Francesca's actually a very important, not so legal, surgeon who also tends to sell organs. When I first moved there, she recognized me and we made a deal, I would protect her from the law and she would not only keep my secret but if I ever happened to get sick or hurt, she'd heal me for free. Now, Harley's heading this way, she'll found out about Francesca and she'll end up in jail because of Malach."

"So? She deserves jail." The vigilante coldly responded.

"I'm out of Reds, as for now she's my best chance at surviving whatever might come after the 14th of January." He kept on scrolling through his contacts upon stopping at one. "Bingo! This guy owed me, I know where we'll be going next."

A moment of silence filled the car, tension grew as distrust had now settled between them. They were nearing the building when Bruce abruptly stopped the car and turned to Joker.

"Did you kill him?"

He stared back, anger in his green eyes and quickly licked his lips upon answering with an annoyed tone.

"What do you think?"

No one spoke up, they got out of the car and ran to the building.

The pale man went to his neighbor's while the detective went to retrieve the suit. Upon looking through the apartment a thought that sent chills down his spine crossed his mind. If Francesca always knew that Jackson White was Joker, then surely she had figured out that he, Bruce Wayne, was Batman. He would never have the chance to bring such a violent criminal to justice for she had him in her hand. He wondered how he was supposed to deal with this issue and when will he ever had the time to do so. Everything felt loss.

He headed next door and knocked, she opened without saying a word, only glancing at the defeated expression that was marking his face.

"Don't worry..." She said and he was expecting such statement, followed by a classic declaration that she was no snitch. "Don't worry 'bout your man, he got out of worst situations. He'll make it this time too."

He could not repress the smile this beautiful imbecility was bringing to him. She really believed they were nothing more than a happy unusual couple. She really never had made the connections in her head.

His partner went on grabbing his shoulder in a comforting manner, while giving him a smirk. The larger man went on looking directly into his eyes and while repressing his laughter he stated.

"I'm so glad to hear it."

Francesca had packed a few things, Joker only grabbed his laptop with him and they left as fast as they could, leaving the scene in Bruce's car. Following the jester's order, they ended up in a small isolated house in front of which the key had been left. It looked like the person who lived there had just left a short moment ago for there was an unfinished glass of Pepsi on the counter, everything was somewhat of a mess, clothes on the floors, fresh food on the table, etc. Francesca went on installing herself in the master bedroom while both men headed to the basement in which there was a bar and the garage.

"I've got more bad news..." He told his ally upon taking off his glasses. "We missed the count down." He stated in seriousness.

"I don't care."

The dark knight responded while sitting on a stool, unable to figure out what was next. He needed to see Harleen's evidences for himself, but couldn't find the courage to leave Joker behind in the city nor could he find the trust to leave him in the cave anymore. Then again, he was trained, he had his suit, he could surely take care of himself.

His moment of reflection was abruptly interrupted by his phone ringing, glancing at it he saw it was Alfred. He headed to the garage and closed the door behind himself upon answering.

"What is it?"

"Sir, the city is turning into chaos, not only is it New Year but people are rioting both against and for the Reds and that's without mentioning the many groups who are quite literally searching the Joker through Gotham as if this was some kind of witch hunt. GCPD is requesting your help."

"Of course, I'll be there shortly."

"What about the Joker?"

"Well, let's just say the gang made a mistake when they decided to train him as their Champion. There's no way they could arrest him now."

"The Champion?" The butler asked surprised.

"Yes." He responded unsure while a minute of stressful silence settled in between them. "Alfred?"

"Sir... We have made a terrible mistake."


	14. Final chapter

**Author's note**

Well, here we are at the end of this adventure that took over a year to finish. I cannot thank you all enough for the support you have given to me, thank you for the compliments and for the participation. You all truly made me enjoy this experience of writing my first fan fiction.  
This fan fiction actually came to life after a bet, I had the story in mind but I lost a bet and had to add smut. I think it's quite obvious that sexy writing isn't my strength, unlike crime and mystery, but I did enjoy the challenge it added. Good thing I do ship Batman and Joker, otherwise it would've been odd.

To Jinx, I'm sorry I did not post your review, but your detective work was just too impressive. Posting it would have unfortunately spoiled interesting elements of the story to new readers and maybe lead others to figure out the ending. Therefore, I truly hope you haven't figured out even more of my story because I'd love to surprise you with unexpected turns of events. You truly impress me.

Dear readers, I hope this ending will move you, make you angry, shock you, anything. Honestly, all I hope for is to offer you a story that will somewhat mark you, that will make you think, that will make you feel emotions.

Bonne lecture.

* * *

 **Final chapter**

"A mistake about what?" The detective asked and after a moment of silence his butler spoke up.

"But you did train him, sir. I thought that the Champion was a name he gave to himself in this alliance with you, for he never got it from the gang."

"What do you mean?"

"Although the Joker was a big part of this investigation, so was I, and I cannot recall a moment when anyone from Harleen's gang mentioned a Champion."

The dark knight's heart sank as he went on reflecting and trying to remember such event, however the older man seemed to be right for he himself had no memory of anyone speaking of the Champion beside the lunatic. He felt nauseous upon speaking his next words.

"The suit. He designed the suit with my company's technology. Nothing gang related..." He said in a defeated voice.

"What about Nygma's role in all this?"

The butler asked and Bruce scratched his chin, almost hopeful to have find some way to connect his ally to the gang in the way he believed he was. Yet, something came up in his mind that once again drowned his thoughts in almost complete obscurity.

"Nygma's last words to Joker were -Trust no one.- He must've been a traitor. That's why they killed him."

"Everything he ever told you was a lie."

"No." The hero stated firmly. "Something this big, I would've known! I would've figured it out!"

"Sir, we all make mistakes. I did not knew either."

But Alfred's words didn't reach the larger man who had the phone away from his face as he started charging out of the garage and into the basement.

"No... This can't be!"

"Sir? Can you hear me?"

He ran upstairs, already out of breath as he was panicking for never has he made such a moronic error in a case and now it was as if he was suddenly arriving to this world after abruptly being taken from one of delusions.

"Joker?! Joker!?"

"Said he was goin' out to take some air!"

Francesca's voice answered his shouting. He ran back to the basement to search through the pale man things and placed the phone back to his ear.

"It's all gone, Alfred! He took everything and left! He took the suit!"

The older man had nothing to add for both him and the vigilante already knew what they had to do.

"Expect me at the cave."

He stated in a deep cold voice, not the one of a defeated man but the one of a betrayed warrior.

Upon arriving he lost no time and started suiting up while his butler updated him on the situation.

"The entire city is out of control, but GCPD is handling this. They asked of you to take care of the small squads that are hunting for the Joker, those people keep on breaking into houses and torturing former inmates hopeful that they would get any clues of his position."

"Of course, but I must also review Claire Williams' evidences. I still don't trust Harleen."

"Speaking of the Devil, she covered all of the laboratory's cameras."

The dark knight who had finished gearing up quickly reached the Batcomputer to load up the videos and saw nothing. Furious, he looked up the number of the place and contacted her.

"Finally!" She arrogantly said upon answering the call.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm offering ya two options, Bats. Either I leave with Red and hide her somewhere in Gotham or y'let me hire some guys to protect her and ya don't arrest them."

"No deal."

"Bats! She's the only hope for a cure, she's the only friend I have left and I'm not leaving her here alone while he's out there." The hero kept silent for moment and she spoke again. "Hey! I got work to do! We're kind of in the middle of a crisis here!"

"Fine. Uncover the cameras and hire some protection."

He watched as the first of his surveillance equipment was freed only to reveal that the lab was already full of mercenaries.

"Deal!"

She hung up and he ran the his Batmobile, enough time had already been wasted, his city needed him.

All the workers in the GCPD building were running all over the place, so many things were happening, so many people brought in; regular New Year drunks who might have went a little too far, Joker-hunters, regular criminals, Malach rioters. Commissioner Gordon was not present at the moment for he was on the field among his men. The vigilante went on intercepting the doctor from the morgue who as usual did not seem surprised at all by the man's presence.

"I need to know all about the recent updates about the evidences on Claire Williams case."

"Oh! That's one hell of an interesting case." She answered so blasé from death, yet full of life. "Follow me."

They entered the evidences room were she accessed the computer, put on some gloves and went on searching for something. She came back with a chain.

"See, this was one of the chain used to restrain Jervis Tetch's body. When we first received them, we analyzed only a bit of the blood that could be found on them and it matched Tetch. We stopped further investigation when Claire Williams showed up covered in the victim's blood, but that was a mistake."

"Did she killed him or not?"

"Yes, totally, but she wasn't alone." The woman picked the end of the chain and turned it in a manners where the blood covering this part was clearly visible. "Harleen Quinzel, she noticed this and said something about chains being overrated because you always end up pinching yourself on them. She analyzed this blood and we got a match."

"Joker."

"Joker was restraining Tetch while Williams was murdering him."

Batman sighed as once again and was feeling not only like a failure, but embarrassed that even Harleen had so far made better detective work on the case than he did.

"We need to reopen Williams' case. She's not insane, she was drugged."

"You think?" She asked skeptical.

"I know Joker have access to a very powerful mind controlling drug that can turn people in quite literal slaves. The Devil's Breath. It would explain the sudden moment of madness Claire had and the voice she kept hearing."

"There's no way we could find traces of this drug in her blood now, but I'll still add this information to the case. That would make sense."

The caped crusader did not respond, he simply headed to the window and swiftly exited the place. So it was all true, the mad man had been lying to him from the very beginning. It was about time he put an end to all this before he could do even more damage.

As he had just left the building finally ready to start taking care of the Joker-hunters, gaining information at the same time in order to find him, Alfred contacted him.

"Sir, Joker has just posted three short videos of himself online."

"Does the video contain any clues of where he might be?"

"Unfortunately, all three videos seemed to have been taken at different places, all on roofs near busy streets, at different times and from different phones."

"Send them my way."

He watched, on each videos he recognized the Champion suit, but his face was uncovered so that people would recognize him and know that this was legit.

 _I'm the living proof that the Reds is a lie. Malach is a fraud._

And that was the first video, him simply stating this.

 _This city needs a real cleansing, let us honor Claire Williams' work._

The vigilante was not surprised by all this and calmly moved on to the next video.

 _Leave the nonredeemable to me and the redeemable to the Bat. Then, leave me to the Bat._

"Did those videos had any impact?" Batman asked his butler.

"Yes, now the Malach rioters are practically at war with the Champion fanatics. It's a good thing you are already half way done with the Joker-hunters, because things keep getting worst."

"Already half way done? Alfred, I haven't started yet."

"But GCPD informed me of finding many groups unconscious and handcuffed, simply stuck waiting to be arrested."

"That wasn't me..." The hero said in confusion upon theorizing. "It must have been Joker. When and where was the last group arrested?"

"About ten minutes ago near the Killinger's Departement Store."

"Thanks."

Immediately after hanging up, he jumped into his Batmobile and rushed toward the location as fast as he could.

Upon arriving, all cops were already gone, such as the criminals that had been arrested, but he continued roaming the streets, eyes peeled as he knew he could not have gone this far if all he had was his suit or an ordinary vehicle at best. The streets were busier than usual, lights and action all over the place was making it harder for him to find what he was looking for. Then, he miraculously got a glimpse of a slim gray silhouette jumping from one roof to the other.

The dark knight ejected himself from his car and glided on the same roof, where the figure was now standing, facing away from him, staring at the bright city. He approached without making a sound, brightness from the city contrasting the slender one and giving to the larger man only a dark shade to stare at. As expected, the left hand was raised as in a salutation, his presence had been felt.

"Hey, Batsy!"

The high pitched voice sent shivers down Bruce's spine as he took in the realization of another big mistake.

"Oh no! No need to thank me for all the help."

The powerful kicks, the poison, the training, the testing. This was starting to make sense.

"Malach..." He said in almost a whisper.

"Nice to meet ya!"

He walked closer, curious and wanting to see her in a better lighting.

"Well, we got work to do. See ya!"

She said, ready to jump down but he grabbed her arms and turn her around.

"No, wait."

He stared at the suit, light gray, quickly recognized the material, spider silk, like his, the armor made for a more acrobatic type. Joker's job at Wayne Enterprise was not to take over the company, but rather make her a suit. She had what seemed to be smoke bombs, a tube with darts, surely poisonous, a knife, a gun, but strangely enough, no grappling hooks. She did not have the hoodie and goggle, instead the bottom and top of her face was completely covered, like a ninja and her eyes where hidden behind a visor. Two other uncanny things was the fact that her back and left ear were not covered by anything. This was a terrible design.

"You can't do this."

"Well it ain't like I can leave it to ya!" She yanked her arm away. "I arrested ten Joker-hunters groups while ya did zero! I can sure as hell do this."

"Why do you have a gun? Why is this even happening?"

"How are ya surprised? I've been telling ya about Malach all this time, inviting ya to trust me and my gang but y'always just pushed me away."

"Trusting your gang, the same way you trusted Joker? I know better than this." He answered coldly.

"Do ya?"

She asked and filled him with remorse, guilt and rage. He hoped she had just returned the question meaninglessly and was not aware of anything that had happened between him and the mad man. He took one step back and spoke up.

"This ends now. You can surrender or we can fight."

"Really?" She mockingly asked. "We have so much things to do and so little time to do so, I don't wanna fight now."

"You're wrong. I have much to do, you don't. It's over. Your gang is over. Malach is over."

"What are ya? A Champion fanatic?"

He went on attacking first, doing a roundhouse kick, aiming for her head, but swiftly, she avoided it by getting down and performing a spinning sweep kick that successfully sent the hero to the ground. By the time he got up she was already jumping down in between two building, surely in an attempt to escape. The caped crusader activated his heat vision and dived into the alley way, spotting only what seemed to be a hand and foot imprint against the cold brick wall of the building, located right in the middle. He found nothing else and moved his cape in a way he could exit the alley way and take some altitude from the dive he had just made. No possible acrobatic moves came to his mind to explain how she had escaped this way, however she could not have gone too far. He flew over the city, searching and rapidly finding her running on top of another roof. Using his grappling hook, the hero quickly reached her, shouting.

"Harleen!"

"Shh! It's Malach right now!" She responded with mild anger. "How would ya like it if I went on calling you Alex when you're wearing the Bat suit?"

"Alex?" He questioned.

"Was taking a wild guess. Was I close? No?" He ignored her question and took his fighting stance. "Are ya serious?!"

"This ends now."

"Y'wanna fight, fine! Let's fight!"

She took a stance too. The detective had already learned from the first altercation that attacking first was a wrong move, she was fast, agile, more than he was. The key was his patience and focus, waiting for the right moment to strike, to stop her.

Here she was arriving, at impressive speed, throwing a forceful unexpected left punch which he rapidly blocked in a slapping hand. A right punch heading to his stomach, he grabbed her forearm, ready to try a takedown, but was surprised as she firmly grabbed his other hand and used his own grip to throw both her feet up against him to push herself away. He took a few steps back without losing his balance while she rolled out of the fall and got back to her feet.

"Even stronger than I remember."

She said slightly panting and he would have returned the compliment if this would have been a friendly fight. Unfortunately, it was not and he had started having doubts on how long it would take to win this battle. She had gotten impressively good, which suddenly gave him an idea.

"Stop fooling around. Show me what you've got, Malach."

He successfully taunted her and was rewarded by the short woman running toward him and jumping up, trying to land a kick to his head, but the large man grabbed her by the foot and knocked her, face toward to ground, with all of his force, exposing her naked back. He swiftly grabbed a batarang an threw it in her shoulder blade, getting a short scream out of her.

To his surprised, it barely bled and as he approached to handcuff her, she rolled, lifting herself a bit to avoid getting the weapon deeper in her back and gave vicious kick the the dark knight's face which made a startling cracking noise. As he stepped back, he noticed he could not move his mouth, plus blood was dripping out of it. She had definitely broken his jaw.

In complete silence, he stood as he stared at her getting up, slightly giggling. Although he was in pain, he had not given up on this combat yet, he got back to his fighting stance, ready to continue.

"Oh! It's on, alright!"

Harley stated, sounding completely furious, but no at all hurt. The vigilante could not understand how and at first thought she might have been on drugs. Then, behind her, the batarang just hit the ground and, unable to speak, he pointed at it, hoping for answers. Her head turned, she glanced at the weapon and proceeded to turn herself, showing her completely healed body to the shocked hero.

"Who would've thought mixing the Man-bat serum with a bit of Clayface's genes would give me powers like these?" She faced the larger man once again. "Oh yeah, this and also the mix of poison resistance potion I had and the Reds that created this thing inside of me, this tumor that allows me to kind of control it all."

It was all starting to make sense, slowly, and Batman could only wonder how he had not seen this coming. The files in the laboratory, the massacre in her apartment, it must have been when she was learning to control this, that time she said she was not even human. She was not human anymore, what she was he did not knew, but it had to be stopped.

"D'ya really want to continue? 'Cause this isn't even my final form."

He kept his stance up, remembering how to take down Harley Quinn, how to take down Clayface and how to take down the Man-bat. He was seeking a way to link all of these being when a familiar sound caught back his attention and he stared at the woman. The sound, so odd, yet he knew he had heard it before and he knew when. It was over a surveillance microphone, when she was with Catwoman. The sound of moving organs, cracking bones, stretching skin. The sound of a monster being formed, as the left ear gets pointy and terrifying wings spreads from out of her back.

He asked himself, why has his ancient partner never mentioned any of this. Was he not aware?

"Tell me y'aren't surprised for real, detective?" She waited a bit upon letting out a loud sigh. "What have ya been doing during the past year!?"

He dropped a smoke bomb in hope to get a away for a moment in order to form a strategy. He had started getting away with the help of his grappling hook when he suddenly felt the powerful small hands grabs on to him. Resistance being applied to the hook, while her enormous wings where moving all over the place, pulling in the other direction with force. She ended up winning as his hand slipped from the gadget, she stopped flying, he kept trying to fight and free himself from her grip to glide away, but she kept her hands on him, diving and doing her best to give acceleration to the fall.

Finally, there was the ground.

Confuses thoughts mixing together in an amalgam of stressful new found ways of perceiving old memories, as bad information kept being added to the mix keeping the hero anxious yet not fully conscious. Champion fanatics trying to take over Gotham all the while cleansing it under Joker's orders. The pale man still impossible to find, appearing here and there in his suit and helping small groups of his new form cult destroying and killing anything and anyone that was crime related. Meanwhile, Malach would still be working on the city as if she was the Bat herself, promising a cure and stating the she was continuing researches and experimentation even while the city was ruled by chaos. She had also been destroying the surveillance system that had been set by the vigilante, stating he had shown that he was no ally to her and wishes to protect her lab, men and Ivy from him.

After what felt like an eternity, he opens his eyes and everything seemed clear. His thoughts and surroundings were lucid, but the pain he felt from his body was barely describable. He did not knew how much time it had been since the fight, but it felt as if he was still in it. Struggling to open his mouth, he successfully, slowly separated his teeth allowing a small sound to escape his mouth, forming a word with an incredible amount of efforts.

"Alfred?"

From the corner of his eye, he saw the older man almost run to him.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"I'm better now." He stated upon trying to sit up, but the butler stopped him. "I need to get up, they need me out there... In fact, what is going on out there?"

"Take it easy." He responded stepping back. "Sir, it's the 5th of January."

"What?" He said sitting up way too quickly, feeling some sort of shock of pain running through his entire body. "I've been in here for five days?"

"Harleen has gotten quite powerful, it's a good thing she's being helpful so far, except for the fight."

"Helping? Look at what she did to me."

"I know, sir, she went too far, I'm guessing she still does not know her strength very well. However, she made a public apology for the fight and said she was hoping for you to accept collaborating. She has been this city's greatest protector, without you around. I do not know what to make of this."

"Do you think that maybe the Reds truly works and Joker is just an exception? There are always people who reacts differently to drugs."

"That's what I have been thinking too."

Bruce went on getting out of the bed, the energy he needed to do so made him dizzy, this was terrible, he needed to be out there, Gotham needed him.

"How is GCPD feeling about Malach?" He asked his old friend.

"Today, they gave her similar rights to you, authorizing the project to affect cases. Claire Williams' case is being reopened and most people are saying her liberation is imminent."

"I feel like I'm going insane, none of this make sense to me, yet I feel I'd be in the wrong however I choose to think."  
Alfred stood silent, unable to find the right words to address Bruce after such statement. He watched as the larger man went on gearing up, moving slowly, pain affecting his facial expressions.

"Sir, you should rest."

The older man proposed already aware that the hero would simply ignore the suggestion and get on with this night.

"What have you told Wayne Enterprise about these days I was gone?"

"Mr. Fox and I have spent some of the company's money into repairing the city from the damage caused by the Champion fanatics and also participate into this new charity that goes into helping the innocents who would have been torture and interrogated to pay their medical bill. Therefore most people from your company thinks you have been busy working around the city, seeing the damage and helping around."

"Great move."

He complimented the man upon getting into his vehicle and leaving.

The vigilante arrived at the lab that was now guarded by GCPD agents, he casually entered and joined the two women who were both in front of the computer, hopefully doing researches. The blonde turned to him and simply waved.

"Why did you insist on having me calling you Malach on the field if you make no effort whatsoever to hide your identity?"

"Because it's cooler, ain't it to same reason for ya? I mean, y'can't really have a life aside from being Batman. I know I can't do anything else ever since I started this project."

"My project." The red head corrected.

"Our project." Harleen corrected once more, a hand on her heart and a wide smile on her face.

"Have you been making progress on a cure?"

"No, but we did discovered new things about the Reds, especially how it altered Harley's body." Ivy went on responding. "We were wrong for calling it a tumor, I think I've somewhat created a new parasitic lifeforms." She turned to the hero. "I can feel its presence in each users." She stated upon getting back to the screen. "Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out why they constantly need doses of Reds in order to keep their host alive."

"Why isn't Harleen's parasite in need of the Reds?"

"The anti-venom serum I gave her long ago altered the way the fungus grew inside of her, forming another type of lifeforms. Although she's safe from dying of a need of Reds, I wouldn't recommend it to other people. This parasite seems to be taking a lot from the mycellium part of its being, but instead of connecting different plants across the ground, it seems to be connecting new coding to her own DNA, which would explain how the extreme modifications were possible."

"Does it mean that it's always seeking to grow, absorbing any coding it comes in contact with?"

"It could eventually evolve toward this..."

"Which means she would become extremely prone to sickness and unfavorable mutations." The detective concluded.

"I am not stressed at all!" Quinn stated nervously giggling. "Tonight we'll be working on cures and testing. What will ya be doing?"

"Look for Joker." The dark knight answered while approaching Harley. "I want you to know that although we fought and I don't agree with your project, you and I are at peace up until we can stop Joker."

"Partners?" She asked while presenting her hand to him.

"No, but we aren't enemies." He stated, going for a handshake.

"I'll take what I can get!" She happily responded, slapping his hand in an awkward attempt for a high five.

A few days went by with no hints to where the pale man might have been. The dark knight was slowly recovering, now being able to stop small groups of Champion fanatics without ever working directly with Malach.

Finally, on the night of the 7th of January, in the sky, he saw the Bat signal. Rushing there, he joined commissioner Gordon on the roof, but also had to deal with the unpleasant presence of Gotham's most recent vigilante. Jim went on explaining the situation.

"The Iceberg Lounge is under attack by Champion fanatics, my men are doing their best to keep them out, but it won't be enough, partly because the club is retaliating. We're stuck in a crossfire. I also got a tip that Joker has been spotted among them."

Malach simply ran, spreading her wings and left ready for action.

"Taking down the Penguin would drown this city in probably the biggest power struggle it ever had."

"I know." The detective answered. "I'll be leaving the fighting to her while I get Cobblepot out of there."

Without any time to spare, he got into the Batmobile and sped off to the Iceberg Lounge. His plan was easy enough, he had to get in there unnoticed and with Harleen fighting in the front line, it shouldn't be that hard. Then, he could go for Joker, find him, stop him, put an end to this.

He stopped his vehicle a few blocks away and went on making his way on rooftops. He glanced down and saw the newborn hero, fighting like a devil in holy water, throwing men against other men, battling both the people from the Lounge and the Champion fanatics. Hurt policemen would use the opportunity to get away, while others would help with the confrontation. This was perfect for the caped crusader who made its way into the ventilation system of the club. He activated his heat vision, spotting Oswald in a far room of the club, some aquatic animals, mostly fishes,a few penguins, a single polar bear and surprisingly enough, no henchmen.

He exited the system and casually started walking toward his destination. As he was marching through the largest room, the one where parties would be held, all snow white, surrounded by some aquariums, a familiar modified voice called to him, from a good distance.

"Baby, where have you been?" He questioned, as if everything was as it should be. "I thought you'd follow me. I thought you'd be with me by now."

"What have you done?"

He sadly asked, unable to find any better question, unable to turn his head and look directly at him. He saw the gray shadow slowly approaching him, arms moving to take off the mask and hood.

"I've continued our work, that's what. You know very well that Harley shouldn't be running this city. You know very well what the Reds does to people."

"You've been a murderer ever since the beginning. You lied to me. You used me."

"It all lead to better things. Of course I lied, I knew you would've never progressed in this case without me killing here and there. You needed me, I've always been there to do what you could never do. That's why we're perfect together."

"I should have never trusted you..."

He stated, finally turning his attention to his old partner. Burning pain started to grow in his chest as he gazed at his delicate long face. His hair had grew, he had never noticed how the green was making its way under the white hair. The surroundings of his lightly colored eyes being were so dark from tiredness and unwashed makeup. There he was with that same old facial expression, that grin, that smile.

"I revealed myself to you, I shared my life with both Jackson and the Champion, I believed in this."

The larger man spoke in his regular voice in a lost hope to maybe reach the friend he had been seeing in the maniac, only to be greeted with absolutely no reactions. The mad man went on placing his goggles back on his eyes, carelessly.

"Never have I ever gave up on you, yet you betray me. I'm the reason you're still alive to this day, Joker."

He placed his hood and mask back on, activating his voice modifier, glancing around the room.

"Joker, I lo..."

"She's coming." He stated, presenting his hand to the hero. "Together, we can take her down. Together, this ends now."  
The dark knight stared at his hand without making any move. He looked around, hearing the sound of a person running in the club, she was near.

"Trust me!"

He demanded as Malach entered the room charging toward him and the caped crusader, simply watched. She jumped at him, ready the tackle him and in a flash of smoke he was gone and she fell. The detective knew where to look as this was his own trick, turning his attention to the ceiling he quickly noticed movement from a ventilation trap. He followed with no hesitation, trying to catch up to the small and agile man that had swiftly made its way closer to where Oswald Cobblepot was.

He exited and the hero followed, they got in a room full of animals and the woman did not put a lot of time upon bursting through the door. Batman had started fighting the Champion, unfortunately, he was still very sore from his battle with Harleen, making the pale man's rapidity quite a problem. As an opening presented itself, he kicked him away, taking out a batarang only to be met by his opponent taking out a gun.

He jumped out of the way, and only heard the shots being fired. Turning back, he watched as the athletic woman evaded the bullets, and in the glimpse of an eye took out her gun. The dark knight threw his batarang at her, a move that was expected and dodged as well. He charged and kicked the gun out of her hand, a bold move that made him receive a bullet in the arm, one that was likely destined to Harley. He pulled a smoke bomb and his grappling hook out to perform to same trick as the jester. Looking down, he realized their common enemy had gotten out of view too, and with a suit like his, he of course had something to hide from heat vision. The blonde had stopped moving, picking up her phone and speaking for a short moment in which the back of all cages had opened. It must have been a move by Joker, the detective theorized, heading to get past the cages and where he believed the smaller man was located.

That is when he realized where Oswald exactly was, behind the polar bear.

"My lab is under attack! I need to..." Malach shouted out to the hero who had no time for this.

"Just go!"

He ordered and she exited almost as fast as he went to get to that room.

He saw him, standing in a corner, remaining as calm as one could, unsure of what to do in such a situation while the clown simply threw a batarang of his own in hope to motivate the animal to attack. The dark knight intercepted it by throwing the same weapon, catching the attention of his opponent.

"Oh, Batsy, glad you could join us."

A statement ignored by the vigilante who was approaching the beast, wanting his focus on him. The plan was simple, since it had not been angered, he only had to make it go back to his cage or get it far enough from Cobblepot so that he could try an escape.

"You know, I've always loved how you make your gadgets to be beyond powerful. Especially that communicator of yours."

The Champion went on opening his communication device and reached the detective who suddenly started feeling sick, having difficulty to comprehend his surroundings as everything sounded distorted. He wanted to turn it off, but he was shaking uncontrollably and could barely breathe. The Champion threw a batarang once more, this time the caped crusader failed to stop it. The beast went crazy with fury and viciously attacked the Penguin while Batman took out his grappling hook shooting the animal in the back trying to pull him away. All he did was bruise and anger the polar bear even more, it turned around rapidly, but before it could do anything, Joker shot it in the head, multiple times.

The vigilante took the time to reach for his headset, completely turning off his communication device. By the time he did, the clown was gone, however he was not the priority of he situation. Laying on the floor, skull opened, disfigured and bleeding was one of the most powerful man in Gotham.  
He had failed, again.

The news of Oswald's death did not take long to spread across the entire city of Gotham, with a good portion of the citizens, supporters of the Champion, seeing it as a good thing. They believed the death of powerful criminals such as Tetch and Cobblepot were a true sign of a new era, one were crime would lower. Bruce thought otherwise, disagreeing with both his ex partner and Malach's methods. However, when he heard of the way she defended the laboratory against the Champion fanatics attacking, avoiding killing any of them and trusting them to GCPD, he somewhat felt relief. Although she was quite mighty, she was not an important threat at the moment.

His encounter and short discussion with Joker lead him to theorize on a few more things, mostly that he must have known about Malach all along. The way he asked for his trust and help to defeat Harleen, he had planned all of this. Of course they could easily take her down together, but the hero knew that the easiest way was rarely the righteous one. The lunatic had planned for the dark knight to need his help and was hoping difficulty would compel him to go back to their alliance, but he was wrong. The detective knew this had been calculated all along, this was nothing but another complex trap to walk into. This time he would not be fooled.

It did not took much time for Bruce to understand what had happened to him on the battlefield, the pale man had used an infra-sound at a high level of decibels through his communicator in order to weaken him. He simply modified his communicator to no longer be able to reach both infra and ultra-sounds, disabling this new tactic his opponent had came up with. He did not wish to block the mad man from reaching him as a slightly longer calls could actually render tracking him possible and if there was anything the smaller man would often do too much, it was talking.

The hero spent the next few days keeping in close contact with Poison Ivy and Harley, even helping them, as they decided to work up some log identifying all Reds distributors and users with their quantity of pills per doses and date of the beginning of the drug uses. They successfully identified that there were in total 214 Reds users, excluding themselves but including the dead, such as Nygma and Tetch. The users were also not only in Gotham, a good portion being at Central City and some at Metropolis. The vigilante was positively surprised to learn that the only user to have died of a lack of Reds was the Riddler, meaning the ones living were quite unlikely to meet with the same fate.

Overall, what they learned is that of all the users, only two of them, including Joker, did not seem to be affected in any ways by the narcotic. The two women concluded that there were just some people with whom the medication was not working, as it was the case with most medicine. Bruce did not felt the same way, this whole plan was much more complicated, was taking more time, focus and was making way too much sense in comparison to other crazy things the clown had ever thrown at him. His nemesis had truly changed and he was blaming the Reds for it.

Both Ivy and Quinn told the dark knight that contacting and testing a bit with other Reds users lead them to discover a few new things. One of them was even willing to stay at the laboratory for as long as they needed. They were now working on another cure, one that Harley would try in a few days and were quite hopeful for the results.

The caped crusader went on continuing his investigations to find Joker, stop the fanatics all the while they were working on this project. Ever since his ally had left him, the detective had been slowly capable of accepting that maybe what was happening was entirely true, even making sense and that he had been the one in the wrong, somewhat blinded by the jester and the bizarre affair they shared.

13th of January. 23:12 PM, Batman is contacted in order to stop a violent battle between a group of Champion fanatics and Malach supporters. The city's latest vigilante could not make it to the battlefield for a few hours as she was asleep, an intravenous injection of what might finally be the cure for the Reds in arm. The red head had explained to Bruce that the solution was too strong to be simply shot in like a regular vaccine and would need time to slowly settle into her body. During those hours, the hero kept doing what had became a routine for the past weeks, fighting small gangs of uncontrollable followers.

Meanwhile, Alfred was in the cave, all eyes and ears to any information that could lead to Joker and keeping track of where the groups were hitting at the same time. Both him and his master were exhausted from the high level of crimes that had been going ever since the pale man had betrayed both them and Harleen's gang. However, tiredness was not slowing any of them down in their way of working, they were determined to finish this.

1:24 AM, a few citizen had reported seeing Joker at the docks, and the caped crusader was at this location seeking clues that could lead him to the prince of crime.

He was analyzing a footprints that oddly resembled the pattern of his own boot, therefore could have been Wayne Tech, when he suddenly heard running and a familiar voice screaming, coming from behind. He barely had time to turn around when Malach was jumping toward him, he grabbed her and they stumbled together, rolling a bit before he successfully pinned her down with the right technique.

"Bats, ya moron!" She shouted struggling ferociously to get out of his firm grip. "I trusted ya! I let ya place all those cameras in my lab and for what?! Where were ya!?"

"What's wrong?" He asked while doing his best to keep her under control.

"I woke up alone, in an empty lab! Red's gone! They're all gone!" She stated upon finally pushing him away and rolling to sit up. "Why didn't y'see that?! Are the cameras even working?!"

"What about the cure?" He coldly asked, although he truly was distressed with Pamela's disappearance as she was their greatest hope.

"Nothing was taken, except for people." She sadly responded, getting up. "We need to find her."

He was about to answer when suddenly her phone started ringing. She answered, sighed and approached the vigilante, putting the phone between them and pressing on the button to put it on speaker.

"What is it?" She asked.

"You two cannot begin to understand how gracious it looks when you fight together. Truly a marvelous performance by two of the most exquisite dancers this city has to offer. Well, most exquisite after me, of course."

He giggled and Bruce quickly started using his hacking device to get into the phone in hopes of tracking him. He was slightly troubled by the way he was speaking and all the time he was wasting, it was such a novice behavior.

"Where's Red?!"

"Ask Batsy, he's the one who took her. He always wanted to ruin your project, didn't he? And wasn't that the perfect occasion?" The lunatic stated and the blonde turned to larger man who placed one hand up as a sign for her to wait upon reacting. "I'll be sending coordinates to each of you, in both location a surprise shall be awaiting."

He said upon hanging up on them and the first thing the dark knight did was take a step back.

"I didn't take Ivy, he did. I think I even know how."

"This better make a lot of sense or I'll make ya regret it like I've never made anyone regret anything before."

"Only you, the people of the laboratory and I knew about this cure testing tonight, the only way for Joker to have known too is if he had a way to spy on you. I suspect the Reds user who stayed for the testing to have been a mole."

As he finished his sentenced, they both received coordinates, the hero was surprised to find out the location was already registered into his map; it was the bunker.

"It's a trap, let's switch."

Quinn offered and the cape crusader simply nodded upon entering new information to once again find out this was no new location, it was the laboratory. They did not exchange any more words upon being done with setting their new destinations in their gadgets. She flew away and he ran to his vehicle.

Upon entering the lab, the detective scrutinized the place, using all of his type of visions in order to not get himself caught in any traps. There was none, but Joker was inside and everything was broken.

He ran to find him locked inside what would normally be Ivy's cell, his face uncover and baffled in expression. He went on bursting into a loud laughter that was barely muffled by his prison.

"I gave you two simple instructions and none of you were able to follow them. What a terrific duo we got there!"

The clown kept mocking while Batman was trying to open the cell that seemed to have been modified. The physical lock could not be broken, it was wired to a password that even his hacking device could not decode.

"Keep trying, Batsy. We've got all the time in the world now that you've killed her."

"What are you talking about?" He harshly responded, done with the pale man's games.

"We won, you didn't follow my instructions, we did it your way and we won."

He grabbed on to one of the solution that was linked to the glove he had designed after Scarecrow's and took it off his suit. Placing on the ground and opening it, he went on opening another one and mixing them together. The larger man was not following what was happening there, but theorized that he was probably making a powerful toxin. Therefore he took a few steps back, ready for anything.

"I was going to use this to bargain with our common enemy but now that she's dead, it's useless."

That's when he understood what had just taken place in front of him, while he did nothing but walk away.

"The cure... You've ruined the cure!" He furiously shouted, jumping at the cell and hitting it with his fist. "What's in Harley's blood instead!?"

"There was never a need for a cure, you know we're fine. You've always said you were sane, I believe you now, that's why the Reds does nothing to you. We don't need a cure, we need each other. I make you stronger, you make me s..."

"What's in her blood!?"

"Rude." The jester mocked upon being interrupted. "Nothing but plant cells, deep in her system. She doesn't even know it, nor feel it. Well, didn't felt it until you sent her to her death."

The hero tried contacting Quinn through the phone he had hacked into earlier to no avail leaving him stuck to make a difficult decision. He could either leave to check on her, which would unavoidably let the mad man escape and disappear once more, or he could stay here and risk abandoning her to a terrible fate one could only imagine. He looked into the man's green eyes and he seemed to have found a glimpse of inspiration in them.

"Joker, if she really is dead, what shall we do with the Reds users?"

"Oh, don't you worry about them. I've figured out how to make Reds, they'll be fine."

"You might have destroyed a new important figure of Gotham, the people will feel hopeless."

"She's destroyed all right, but this city never needed her."

The vigilante went on heading for the door, heart racing as he was longing to hear a few words coming from the smaller man's mouth. He started giggling and then went on speaking.

"See you soon, my darling."

It took everything for the larger man to not smile. He left and got into his vehicle to rush at the bunker.

The noise of a female crying in desperation is the first thing to have reached him upon approaching the now door-less bunker near which he found both Malach's mask and visor. He slowly made his way through the L shaped passage to stare with horror into the dim lighted by small lamps room. The scene was something only the mind of this lunatic could have ever came up with, the level of cruelty that had been put into this murder was heart wrenching.

He recognized the type of helmet she had on her head, covering both eyes and ears, rendering life to be an obscure mystery. She must have felt the plant cells that were surely administered without her presence and just pulled. She pulled to get what she felt was a plant closer and closer, to help her out of this helmet and out of the chains that were holding her near the wall and floor. As it was dragged close enough, the woman was finally be able to touch it, only to discover with dread and sorrow that what was under her hand was not a plant, but the soft flesh of a familiar face she had so often caressed.

Her crying was constant as she was absolutely helpless, uncomfortable to further move the plants and along with it the body she had unknowingly wrecked. Her only reaching hand still touching the face and feeling the soft hair of her immobile girlfriend.

The dark knight approached to free her of the helmet and, as expected, was met with fear and resistance up until he successfully removed it. She looked at him for a brief instant, speechless and went on staring at the blonde while the hero was undoing her restraints. Quinn's eyes were closed, the veins on her face oddly visible, as if moving the plant cells had somewhat over loaded some areas of her blood system. After liberating Pamela, he activated his X-ray vision to analyze the murder and witnessed something incredible.

"Her heart is pounding lightly, her blood is moving. She's alive." He stated while dropping next to Harley and pointing out two areas of her body. "Ivy, I can see where the cells are concentrated, I can guide you toward equally spreading it into her body, back to how it must have been when she got here."

"Let's do it."

She stated as cooperative as she's ever been, placing her hands above her. They went on slowly moving the cells through her blood system and organs and each time they would make a move the hero was simply hoping he was right. They went on moving her entire system, going through organs without ever losing to light pulse up until finally she started breathing weakly. It was a miracle. They kept going and then.

"Wow..."

Came in a whisper while eyelashes fluttered and the eyes remained closed. The green lady grabbed the girl's face and leaned as close as she could, highly emotional.

"I have no idea of what just happened, but it hurt."

"I almost lost you." She said, placing kisses on her face. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"I'm glad you're alive too." Harley responded and surprised the two others as she casually started to move her arm to grabbed the other woman's hand and turned her head toward the dark knight. "Hello there!"

"Joker ruined the cure and made someone inject plant cells into your body instead of it. He was then hoping for Ivy to accidentally kill you as you came here. This is what just happened, she didn't know it was you, so she used her powers on you."

"He dies tonight." Pamela coldly said.

"No one is going to kill him, but I must stop him."

"You must stop him? After all he did there is no way I'm simply letting him go!" She shouted while the blonde sat up.

"Strongest fighter in the bunch here! He just tried having my own girlfriend murdering me, if anyone deserves a pancetta, it's me!" Quinn stated and the other woman nodded without a single care for her flawed language.

"Right now Joker is certain of three things, first that Harleen is dead, second that Ivy is free and surely coming for him and finally that he has got a chance to form an alliance with me now. Therefore Ivy shouldn't come as she's very expected."

"But I ain't expected at all."

"Exactly." The detective agreed with Malach. "He's probably waiting for me somewhere at the moment, waiting for my reaction and waiting for her revenge. I'll show up alone, which will lead him to believe I've arrested Ivy to protect him, surely he'll let his guard down and when he does you strike and we arrest him."

She stood up and seemed dizzy for a moment, hardly standing on her feet, but finally regained her balance. She grabbed her phone, and turned to the meta-human standing next to her, offering it to her.

"Find a place to hide. I'll call ya when I'm done."

The caped crusader could not disagree with letting the mad woman free in Gotham as there was no safe place anywhere. The Batcave would have been a death trap for her at the moment. Both vigilantes left running, stopping only for the woman to pick up her mask and visor.

"How did you lost them?"

"I took them off." She replied while gearing up. "I didn't feel like I was in danger."

He sighed to the stupidity while heading to his vehicle, hearing the familiar sound of Malach spreading her wings, behind him. Suddenly, she grunted and he glanced over his shoulder only to see her fall to her knees.

"I'm still too weak too fly..."

Quinn admitted in a somewhat defeated voice upon rising her head to see that Batman was waiting for her. She ran and climbed aboard the Batmobile.

The detective had a few ideas of some places where the pale man might been waiting for him, among them surprisingly enough was not the Batcave as Alfred would have somewhat warned him if it would have been the case. The duo went from place to place, Harleen would often climb up to the roof by herself and try her best to stealthily walk from room to room, looking around with the hero. Whenever the building would be too tall he would have to pick up the woman and use his grappling hook to get her to a hiding point, it was quite the complication.

Finally, they got to his last idea and there he was, at the window of his office at the Wayne Tower, looking down at the city. He dropped Malach on the other side of the tower and remembered how she once met Bruce Wayne right in this office. All he had to do was hope that she would remember the way there. As for him, he pulled himself up there and let his ex partner open the window to let him in.

"We did it! Gotham is ours!"

Joker enthusiastically stated upon seeing the larger man arriving alone. The happiness in his smile seemed genuine and completely lacked the madness it usually had. His eyes were glowing as he opened his slender arms in an invitation for the caped crusader to embrace him, as if they were truly partners. Well that, only the dark knight knew this was nothing but a masquerade and it made him sick. He felt absolutely disgusted with himself as he placed his hands around the small waist and pull the man closer to hold him tight.

"You've trusted me, I made us kings." He calmly said upon whispering his next hurtful words. "I'll never miss you again."

His heart burned, crumbling under remorse upon hearing this short sentence and feeling the smaller man's arms tightened around him.

The door opened and Malach entered with her gun pointing forward. He turned, keeping his hold on the mad man to protect him from her. She had the reflex to not shoot, yelling at him to get out of the way, telling him she would only wound him. For the first time in his life, the clown was utterly speechless, eyes wide and mouth slightly opened. Then came anger, and in a split second he had grabbed one of his batarang and stabbed the hero in his side. He barely felt it, as adrenaline kicked in and he turned to grab Harley's gun.

"On what side are ya!?"

She shouted as they started fighting for the firearm. Suddenly, the Champion climbed on the desk, ripped the monitor from where it was plugged and jumped down to break it on Batman's head and Quinn kicked his leg to make him hit the ground, face down. He feared he had just been betrayed by both of them, but this thought was cut short by a noise.

One gun shot.

The lunatic screamed, a scream the vigilante had come to know well, the one he made when the amount of pain was immense, yet still not enough to be unpleasant for him. He turned his head, but was still too dizzy to see well.

A second gun shot.

A weak whine, a breath and silence. The type of silence Bruce had recently started despising, the one he has had to deal with ever since his parting with Joker. Now was this one going to last forever?

All he could see was so unclear, the silhouette of Harleen kneeling next to the immobile man, her hands being placed on him. He struggled to get himself there, slowly getting his vision back.

"He's alive, I swear."

She said and the dark knight activated his X-ray vision and began understanding what had just taken place. It was not murder, but it was rather disgusting. She was pressing on his wounds to keep the blood from spilling out, she really did want him alive. However she had purposefully hit his spine and he theorized, simply by the sight of it, that Joker was unlikely to ever move any of his limbs again, he was surely paralyzed from neck to toes. She had turned him into his own very cell, forever.

Batman glanced with his X-ray vision at the first aid kit he kept in his office as he would often have to change bandages and what not on himself during to day. He went on retrieving some items and got back to the unconscious man, patching him up ready to leave for Arkham.

The route toward the asylum would have normally be silent with him being in the back and not awake, but Harleen was there. Sitting next to the driver as she started sobbing behind her mask and went on mumbling about regrets, about how this was the worst thing one could do to Joker. The hero had a different opinion on this, she actually did good, although it is terrible she had successfully ended the clown prince of crime and this was not the worst thing one could do the him.

"What you did was extreme, but I wouldn't say it was wrong. You stopped him, you saved lives by doing so." He told her.

"So, this is Justice?" She asked only to receive no answers. "Justice feels unfair."

"It often does."  
"We should fix him, we can fix him."

"He's paralyzed, nothing can be done."  
"They made me fly, surely someone could make him walk, right?" Her words were met with silence. "If he ever change..."  
"If he ever change." He agreed, sadly aware that this was never to happen in a positive direction.

They arrived at Arkham where doctors immediately started taking care of him. The caped crusader went on speaking with the psychiatrists, making a few special requests. After a thing like the Reds, he wanted the workers to do their best to make contact with the outside world an impossibility, going as far as making the news unavailable for him. They seemed to be agreeing and had already started restricting contacts for the most dangerous inmates ever since they had seen how the Reds case was degenerating in the city.

Since the lunatic was good at recovering, it did not took much time for him to awake and be made aware of his current situation. He was placed in a room alone, on life support, for once he was not attached for he could not move, yet the room was locked on both sides. Malach asked for a word with him in private, the doctors allowed her.

Meanwhile, Batman went on giving his remaining Reds to a doctor, explaining that since it was now the 14th of January, the smaller man needed a certain dose today. He obeyed and entered the room to proceed immediately, completely disrespecting the woman's request. Anyhow, she left shortly after, walked passed the vigilante without addressing him and left. She must have been upset.

He made the same request, he was granted it and knew that unlike her, due to his reputation, this was to be respected. He hacked the surveillance system of the room and entered.

A defeated champion was lying in bed, able to only move his eye, he turned his attention to the dark knight once he was close enough. He had this blank expression on his face, truly depleted of any kind of madness, anger, of anything. He was completely destroyed, but so was the standing man.

"When you're gonna leave, you'll be leaving for a better Gotham, one that I shaped for us, a home a gave to you." If he had not been so weak, surely he would have yelled. "She did this to me and you're letting her go and enjoy this good city."

"Gotham is not better."

"Don't lie to yourself. The looneys are sane, Penguin and most heads of organized crime is gone, you're the most powerful you've ever been, how is this not better?"

They stood quiet as the detective lacked the courage to explain why he felt this way, however he knew it would not take long for the lunatic to figure out that the missing piece for a better Gotham was himself. Himself as Jackson, as the Champion he had presented himself to be, but the hero had already accepted that the mad man would never understand this unfortunately fake self was the better version of him. He was too attached to the extreme, truly believed they needed murder and dishonest ways to achieve making Gotham better.

"I don't believe you wanted to make the city better."

"What do you believe I wanted?"

"Me, with no distractions."

"Don't be so self-centered, it's not your style and it doesn't suit you." The jester answered without any seriousness. "But you're ungrateful and cruel. This also doesn't suit you." He waited and spoke up once more, emphasizing his words in hope of an impact to the stoic man. "Today, I hate you."

"Yesterday?" He asked and received silence as a response. "The Reds are still illegal."

"So what?"

"The one you took was what I had left. There was no way she would have gave any to you after what you did tonight."

"They know you're a user, right?"

A worried expression slowly took place on his face. All Batman did was lower himself to tenderly kiss him, a slow and passionate embrace that made his inside burn with intense emotions.

"I love you."

He whispered, his face closed to his, upon turning away from the clown and slowly heading for the door and as expected he understood this meant good bye.

"No! You're crazy! All this and you're just gonna let yourself die!" He shouted, but was ignored. "Batsy, come back! Bats! Bats!"

To no avail he desperately screamed his name, even as he was walking outside of the closed room, he could hear his voice, his cry for him to come back, for him to change his mind, for this to not be happening. It took the caped crusader everything to keep going forward, to head outside, to accept his own decision.

He got to his vehicle, panting slightly, the feelings themselves were draining him as much as a physical fight. A box was a top of the car, he opened it. Reds from Malach, he was expecting it and even if he would not had gotten them this way he would have simply asked. He sat in the car, and drove far away in order to get out of sight. It was odd to think the flamboyant prince of crime would never stand before him again.

He painfully reflected on all the man had just done to eliminate everything he hated, to give him a better Gotham, a better life and finally be alone with him in a world where the right thing was not for them to be separated, a world were both of them were sane since the clown already knew he could never get this city to lock Bruce with him as a mad man. Sanity was the key for them to be together and it was unfortunately unreachable, even with the Reds. Something had truly change them, but the detective had started to believe that maybe it was something else rather than drugs.

What to think of Malach, he did not knew yet, but was starting to believe that maybe he had been wrong all along when it came to her. With Joker out of the way, things could only get better, although they would forever feel worse to the sorrowful dark knight. There was still much to do, but at least he knew he shared similar goal to someone else, however the empty feeling remained.

Jackson White was more than a partner.

Today Batman had done the worst thing one could ever do to Joker; he had finally reached something sane and real inside of him only to manipulate him and fake his death to get away and leave him to be alone, forever.

* * *

 _"_ _So how do you keep a secret from the World's Greatest Detective? Well, do you know? You stick it right in front of him, right under his long pointy nose, and wait."_  
 **\- Joker**


End file.
